SHALL  THEY  BE 


FROM  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  QUARTERLY  REVIEW,  DEC.  1855 

(BY  PERMISSION.) 


ROCHESTER: 

STL  AM  !  LESS  OF  A.  STRONG  &  CO.  DAILY  DEMOCRAT  OFFICE. 

1850. 


MISSION  SCHOOLS. 


(From  the  Presbyterian  Quarterly  Review  for  Dec.  1855.) 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSION  QUESTION. 

The  Church  of  Christ,  in  accordance  with  the  last  com¬ 
mand  of  her  all-glorious,  and  all-powerful  Head,  has  under¬ 
taken  the  work  of  converting  all  nations  to  the  obedience  of 
the  faith.  Relying  upon  the  promised  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
she  has  addressed  herself  to  this  task,  nor  does  she  falter  in 
her  hopes  of  its  full  achievement.  Great  as  the  undertaking 
confessedly  is,  final  and  entire  success  is  the  only  issue  which 
she  anticipates. 

It  may  however  be  questioned,  whether  the  hopes  based 
upon  the  word  of  God,  are  not,  in  part  at  least,  sustained  by 
ignorance  of  the  actual  vastness  of  the  undertaking,  and  of 
the  hinderances  to  its  accomplishment.  The  conversion  of 
whole  nations,  with  millions  and  tens  of  millions  of  subjects, 
the  displacement  of  idolatry,  infidelity,  and  hatred  of  the 
Gospel,  the  planting  of  the  Church  with  its  ordinances  and 
ministry  upon  a  soil  so  lately  hostile,  the  provision  for  a  per¬ 
petuation  of  these  institutions  of  religion,  is  a  work  whose 
greatness  is  rather  conceded  than  understood,  rather  admit- 


2 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


ted  than  grasped  or  comprehended.  We  look  upon  it,  there¬ 
fore,  as  a  matter  of  congratulation,  that  the  Churches  with 
which  we  are  associated  in  this  work  have,  in  the  Providence 
of  God,  been  called  at  the  present  time,  to  scan  more  closely 
the  means  relied  upon  for  success  by  their  representatives  in 
the  foreign  field.  As  lovers  of  the  cause,  we  rejoice  that  it 
is  attracting  the  earnest  scrutiny  of  those  most  competent  to 
deepen  and  widen,  and  speed  onward  anew,  the  efforts  of 
the  people  of  God  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  nations 
to  Christ. 

This  work  in  which  we  are  engaged  is  no  temporary  one. 
It  is  a  life-long  labor  which  God  has  laid  upon  us.  A 
spasmodic  effort,  a  brilliant  charge,  the  springing  of  a  mine, 
will  not  give  the  Church  possession  of  lands  now  occupied 
by  idolatry  and  superstition.  We  must  count  upon  hinder- 
ances,  delays,  difficulties,  and  obstinate  resistance.  Counting 
the  cost,  we  must  put  on  the  harness,  and,  imitating  the  un¬ 
conquerable  obstinacy  of  mere  earthly  warriors,  resolve  to 
dig,  and  sap,  and  mine,  and  ever  to  advance,  assured  that 
when  we  fall,  in  trench,  or  breach,  or  camp,  or  assault, 
others  will  come  forward  to  fill  our  places,  and  hold  the 
ground  we  gain.  It  need  occasion  no  surprise,  that  in  an 
effort  so  vast,  so  complicated  and  so  long  protracted,  there 
should  be  a  call  from  time  to  time  to  examine  our  position 
and  our  modes  of  procedure.  ,  We  should  expect  that  the 
teachings  of  experience,  as  well  as  the  results  of  thoughtful 
attention,  would  afford  data  for  the  correction  of  errors,  or 
suggest  improvement  in  our  use  of  means.  God  has  in  his 
wisdom  left  us  in  many  things  to  the  exercise  of  judgment, 
and  it  becomes  us  to  learn  from  the  history  of  the  past, 
lessons  of  wisdom  for  the  future.  Hence,  as  we  have  said, 
we  rejoice  that  attention  has  been  called  to  the  Theory  and 
Practice  of  Missions,  and  would  contribute  our  mite  to¬ 
wards  the  elucidation  of  a  subject  in  which,  as  a  Church,  we 
have  so  deep  an  interest  and  so  large  a  stake. 

On  the  most  cursory  glance  at  the  history  of  modern  mis¬ 
sions,  we  notice  a  peculiarity  by  which  they  are  distinguish- 


3 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

ed  from  the  missions  of  apostolic  times  ;  we  refer  to  the 
establishment  of  schools  as  an  aid,  both  direct  and  indirect, 
in  the  work  of  evangelization.  The  apostles  went  from  city 
to  city,  tarrying  according  to  circumstances  and  the  divine 
mandate,  days,  weeks,  months,  or  years,  preaching,  strength* 
ening,  and  ordaining ;  but  so  far  as  we  can  learn  from  the  in¬ 
spired  page,  not  establishing  schools  for  the  young.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  missionaries  of  modern  times,  men  often  of 
an  undoubted  apostolic  spirit  and  life,  have  with  remarkable 
unanimity,  in  connection  with  the  preaching  of  the  word, 
established  schools  for  the  Christian  education  of  youth.  To 
glance  at  those  Missions  with  which  we  are  most  familiar, 
we  find,  for  instance,  that  when,  in  1734,  Mr.  John  Sergeant 
resigned  his  office  as  tutor  in  Yale  College  to  commence  a 
mission  among  the  Mohegans,  he  “  placed  his  chief  hope  of 
success  in  the  education  of  youth.”  The  heavenly  minded 
David  Brainerd,  whilst  preaching  to  the  Indians  in  Massachu¬ 
setts,  also  superintended  an  English  school  taught  by  his  in¬ 
terpreter.  On  his  removal  to  New  Jersey  in  1746,  he  there 
also  formed  a  school,  a  few  months  after  his  arrival.  If  we 
turn  our  eyes  from  the  early  Missions  in  America  to  the  be¬ 
ginnings  of  labor  among  the  Hindus,  we  find  that  Ziegenbalg 
and  Plutsche,  men  whose  zeal  and  devotion  have  rarely  been 
exceeded,  on  their  arrival  at  Tranquebar  in  Southern  India, 
being  deeply  convinced  of  the  importance  of  early  instruc¬ 
tion,  lost  no  time  in  establishing  a  school  for  the  education  of 
such  native  Tamil  children  as  they  could  collect  for  this  pur¬ 
pose,  some  of  whom  they  contrived  to  feed  and  clothe  at 
their  own  expense.  When,  in  1728,  a  mission  was  com¬ 
menced  at  Madras  by  Schultz,  schools  were  a  part  of  its  ma¬ 
chinery  ;  and  the  apostolic  Schwartz,  soon  after  landing  and 
reaching  his  field  in  Southern  India,  writes,  “  I  began  a 
catechetical  hour  in  the  Tamil  school  with  the  youngest  lambs 
and  thus  I  learned  to  stammer  with  them.”  Turn  to  another 
continent,  and  there  also  the  missionary  Schmidt,  sent  by  the 
Moravians  of  Germany  in  1736,  to  make  known  Christ  to  the 
despised  sons  of  Africa,  soon  founded  the  first  Hottentot 


4 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


school.  Passing  to  the  date  of  the  commencement  of  the 
first  mission  of  the  American  Board,  that  at  Bombay,  we  find, 
that  in  1815,  the  brethren  made  such  efforts  as  their  means 
allowed  for  the  education  of  heathen  children.  In  the  first 
year  of  the  Jaffna  Mission,  (1816)  boys  were  brought  under 
the  instruction  of  the  missionaries  and  their  assistants,  and 
soon  after  a  few  little  girls  were  gathered,  forming  the  germ 
of  the  Oodooville  boarding-school.  In  the  same  year  the 
mission  among  the  Cherokees  was  commenced,  and  the 
erection  of  a  “  comfortable  school-house/’  was  one  of  their 
earliest  movements.  In  1820,  a  mission  was  begun  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year  four 
schools  were  established.  This  list  might  be  indefinitely  pro¬ 
longed,  with  similar  statements  concerning  missions  in  Asia, 
Africa,  America,  and  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific ;  but  enough 
has  been  adduced  to  show  a  remarkable  agreement  among 
men  of  different  generations,  from  various  lands,  and  upon 
widely  separated  fields,  in  the  use  of  the  school  in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  the  preaching  of  the  truth  to  adults,  as  an  agency 
for  promoting  the  work  of  evangelization.  In  the  wilds  of 
our  own  frontiers,  among  the  Hottentots  and  Zulus  of  South 
Africa,  in  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan,  on  the  torrid  plains  of 
India,  in  the  sea-ports  of  China  and  the  retired  islets  of  Poly¬ 
nesia  ;  nay,  wherever,  almost  without  exception,  the  banner  of 
the  cross  has  been  raised,  there  do  we  find  children  and 
youth  gathered  for  instruction  in  the  mission  school. 

The  fact  is  a  remarkable  one.  What  does  it  mean  \  It 
would  seem  to  be  a  missionary  instinct.  To  say  that  this 
course  is  not  in  accordance  with  piety,  zeal  and  wisdom,  that 
it  is  not  the  fruit  of  apostolic  devotedness,  conflicts  harshly 
with  the  universality  of  its  adoption  by  men  whose  lives  are 
regarded  as  the  highest  exemplifications  of  Christian  charac¬ 
ter,  under  circumstances  so  varied,  and  on  fields  so  indepen¬ 
dent,  in  all  things  one  of  another.  Yet,  that  it  is  a  departure 
from  the  strict  line  of  apostolic  precedent,  is  undeniable. 

If  now  we  turn  to  the  results  of  the  efforts  of  the  Churches 
of  the  foreign  field,  during  the  past  forty  years,  that  we  may 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question, 


5 


in  some  sense  test  our  modes  by  our  progress,  our  theories 
by  their  fruit,  a  two-fold  answer  will  be  returned,  according 
to  the  standard  by  which  they  are  measured.  Viewed  posi¬ 
tively,  these  results  are  glorious  and  cheering.  Whole  tribes 
have  been  rescued  from  barbarism  and  raised  to  the  rank  of 
Christian  men;  islands  sunk  in  the  depths  of  licentiousness, 
idolatry,  and  even  cannibalism,  have  taken  their  place  among 
civilized  nations ;  the  most  degraded  races  of  South  Africa 
have  yielded  brightest  gems  for  our  Saviour's  crown  ;  nomi¬ 
nal  Christians  have  returned  to  the  standard  of  truth  and 
abjured  their  false  doctrines  ;  and  even  India  and  China,  the 
strongholds  of  heathenism  in  the  East,  have  been  the  scenes 
of  outpourings  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  the  birth  place  of 
souls.  Christian  churches,  even  though  at  long  intervals, 
stud  the  world,  twinkling  like  the  stars  of  heaven  in  every 
quarter  of  its  sin-darkened  hemispheres. 

Viewed,  however,  not  in  their  own  worth,  nor  according  to 
what  we  had  reason  to  anticipate  with  a  full  understanding  ot 
the  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  but  in  comparison  with  the  ex¬ 
pectations  of  the  sanguine,  the  results  are  less  satisfactory. 
It  was  the  confident  anticipation  of  many  good  men,  at  the 
time  of  the  inauguration  of  our  present  operations,  that  a  few 
years  of  missionary  labor  would  overspread  large  portions  of 
the  heathen  world  with  Christianity.  Idolaters  were  spoken 
of  as  stretching  forth  their  hands  for  the  Gospel ;  true  enough 
as  a  figurative  representation  of  their  need,  but  quite  false  as 
a  statement  of  their  desires.  The  victims  of  false  religion 
were  represented  as  slaves  to  sin,  waiting  for  the  proclama¬ 
tion  of  liberty  through  Christ ;  true  enough  as  to  their  actual 
bondage  to  Satan,  but  false  as  to  their  willingness  to  accept 
the  heaven-sent  boon.  With  the  sanguine,  these  figurative 
statements  passed  for  realities,  and  brilliant  success  was  looked 
for  at  an  early  day.  To  such  views  and  expectations,  the 
results  ot  missionary  labor  seem  most  inadequate  and  dis¬ 
heartening.  After  laboring  for  forty  years,  they  find  heathen¬ 
ism  and  false  religion  still  occupying  the  greater  part  of  the 
habitable  globe.  But  it  is  forgotten  that  apostolic  gifts  and 


G 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 

t 

labors,  followed  up  by  the  zeal  of  the  evangelists  of  the 
primitive  Church,  besieged  the  Roman  empire  for  three  centu¬ 
ries  before  the  Cross  supplanted  the  Eagle  upon  her  strong¬ 
holds  and  banners.  Undervaluing  the  work  to  be  accom¬ 
plished  and  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered,  they  are  ready 
to  conclude,  because  every  thing  is  not  done,  that  nothing  is 
done,  and  to  cry  out — “  missions  a  failure.”  Others  there 
are,  and  among  them  many  missionaries,  who,  though  not 
thus  cast  down  by  the  disappointment  of  hopes  unwarranted 
by  the  history  of  the  Church,  still  feel  that  all  has  not  been 
done  that  might  have  been  done.  With  souls  yearning  over 
dying  myriads,  and  longing  for  the  more  rapid  spread  of  the 
only  remedy  for  sin,  they  are  ready  to  exclaim,  “  Why  tarry 
His  chariot  wheels  so  long!  Oh!  where  is  the  promise  of  His 
coming!  ”  Admitting  that  God  has  greatly  blessed  the  labors 
of  his  unworthy  servants,  and  that  in  some  fields  the  harvest 
has  been  great  even  to  astonishment,  the  same  cannot  be  as¬ 
serted  of  all  missionary  fields.  In  many  a  spot  where  sin 
abounds,  although  the  labors  of  many  years  have  been  there 
expended,  the  missionary,  looking  about  him,  exclaims, 
u  Who  hath  believed  our  report!  to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the 
Lord  revealed?”  Ready  to  convict  himself  of  error,  with 
a  jealous  eye  the  laborer  scans  his  heart,  his  theory  and  his 
practice,  and  asks,  “Where  is  the  fault!  What  better  can 
we  do!”  The  new  comer  with  warm  desires  and  great  ex¬ 
pectations,  unable  to  appreciate  the  advance  that  has  actually 
been  made  by  his  predecessors,  is  ready  to  imagine  that  pre¬ 
vious  modes  are  at  fault,  and  suggests  new  measures.  Anxious 
directors  and  friends  of  missions  at  home,  impatient  of  the 
slow  advances  made,  begin  to  inquire  whether  there  be  not 
something  wrong,  and  seek  to  show  the  remedy.  Thus,  be¬ 
tween  old  missionaries  and  new,  laborers  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  the  host  of  lookers  on,  it  is  not  surprising  that  we  should 
have  more  than  one  scheme  laid  down  as  the  proper  method 
of  missions. 

Whilst  the  main  current  of  Christian  missions,  from  all 
lands  to  all  lands,  has  ever  set  steadily  in  favor  of  a  combina- 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


7 


tion  of  preaching,  teaching  and  scattering  the  word  of  God, 
as  the  true  plan  for  evangelization  in  heathen  countries,  two 
widely  different  courses  have  been  struck  out  for  the  more 
perfect  and  speedy  attainment  of  the  end  proposed,  by  the 
divergence  in  two  opposite  directions  of  some  of  the  friends 
of  missions.  These  diverging  theories  may  be  characterised 
as  the  educational  system,  and  the  system  of  exclusive  oral 
preaching.  The  one  would  correct  the  ordinarily  accepted 
theory  of  missions,  by  giving  greater  prominence  to  the 
Christian  education  of  youth  ;  the  other  by  relying  mainly, 
if  not  entirely,  upon  the  oral  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  to 
adults.  We  shall  attempt  fairly,  and  as  fully  as  our  space 
will  allow,  to  present  the  respective  positions  of  the  two 
parties,  turning  our  attention  more  particularly  to  India,  per¬ 
haps  the  most  difficult  of  mission  fields,  as  well  as  the  most 
familiar,  and  one  to  which  the  notice  of  the  public  is  at 
present  particularly  called. 

The  educational  system  has  been  adopted  by  the  Presbyte¬ 
rians  both  of  the  Kirk  and  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  in 
their  India  missions.  It  was  introduced  at  Calcutta  by  Dr. 
Duff,  the  deservedly  eminent  and  admired  senior  of  these 
missions.  It  is  now  the  system  pursued  by  the  Scotch  mis¬ 
sionaries  at  Calcutta,  Madras,  Bombay,  Nagpore  and  else¬ 
where.  As  it  has  been  much  misunderstood,  and  the  princi¬ 
ples  upon  which  it  is  advocated  often  decried,  it  is  but  an  act 
of  justice  to  state  the  views  of  these  unquestionably  earnest 
and  godly  men,  as  held  by  themselves,  whilst  to  inquirers  on 
the  u  Theory  of  Missions  ”  it  will  be  suggestive,  and  as  we 
may  hope,  interesting.  Those  desiring  to  study  the  subject 
more  thoroughly,  will  find  in  u  Duff  on  India  and  India  Mis¬ 
sions,”  (pages  284 — 423,)  the  arguments  from  which  we 
make  the  following  brief  : 

The  principle  lying  at  the  foundation  of  Hinduism,  as  a 
religious  system,  is  exclusive  self-reliance — self-righteousness. 
The  remedy  for  this  false  doctrine  is  the  unfolding  of  right¬ 
eousness  in  Christ — the  Gospel.  The  question  that  meets  us 
in  our  work  is,  How  can  we  most  effectually  communicate  a 


8 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


saving  knowledge  of  Christ!  How  can  we  bring  to  pass  the 
intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  regeneration  of  the  universal 
mind  of  India,  and  that  in  the  speediest  and  most  thorough 
manner !  By  common  consent  there  are  three  generic  modes 
of  applying  the  Gospel  to  the  people,  viz : 

1.  Preaching  the  Gospel  to  adults. 

2.  Teaching  it  to  the  young. 

3.  The  translation  and  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  and  re¬ 
ligious  worksw 

All  these  modes, — Dr.  Duff  argues, — have  been  blessed,  and 
should  be  used.  They  are  not  antagonists  but  allies;  and  to 
pitch  them  against  each  other  is  folly  and  wrong.  Christian 
education  and  preaching  differ  in  the  subjects  and  in  the  modes 
of  application  of  the  truth  conveyed,  but  notin  essence.  We 
should  not  therefore  be  influenced  by  names  so  as  to  imagine 
them  to  be  essentially  different  or  antagonistic.  “Go  teach  all 
nations,”  is  parallel  to  “Go  preach  to  every  creature.”  By 
teaching,  in  its  present  connection,  he  understands  communi¬ 
cating  the  Gospel  to  the  young;  by  preaching,  communicating 
it  to  those  of  riper  years.  Circumstances  may  decide  which 
of  the  different  modes  shall  take  precedence  of  the  others. 
Thus  the  savage,  without  an  alphabet,  whose  language  has  not 
been  reduced  to  writing,  must  be  preached  to  before  he  is  offered 
a  Bible,  or  taught  to  read.  The  Chinese  may  be  reached  by 
books  or  tracts  before  they  can  be  approached  by  the  preacher 
or  teacher.  In  India  again,  both  modes  may  be  used,  and  the 
question  will  be  on  the  relative  prominence  to  be  given  to  each 
part  of  the  work. 

erian  Church  have  chosen  and  stedfastly 
adhered  to  what  they  denominate  the  Christian  education 
scheme.  In  former  educational  evangelistic  efforts,  Dr.  D. 
thinks  too  much  was  expected  from  schools  of  a  low  grade,  and 
too  little  attention  paid  to  a  thorough,  long-continued  course  of 
training.  Elementary  schools  for  a  large  number  can  only  be 
wisely  used, — in  present  circumstances, — as  a  preparation  for 
higher  educational  institutions.  Upon  these  last  we  must  rely 
for  the  true  results  of  Christian  education  as  a  missionary  effort. 


The  Scotch  Presbyt 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


9 


The  Gospel  must  be  preached  to  the  adult  population.  The 
question  of  questions  is,  Who  are  to  be  preachers!  The  church¬ 
es  at  home  have  been  hitherto  looked  to  for  those  who  shall 
carry  the  word  of  life  through  heathen  nations.  But,  viewing 
the  immense  number  of  preachers  needed,  the  difficulty  of  ob¬ 
taining  the  men,  their  expensiveness,  their  reduction  by  ill¬ 
ness  and  death,  their  want  of  acquaintance  with  the  languages 
and  customs  of  the  people,  &c.,  he  argues,  that  we  must  look 
to  the  churches  of  Christendom  for  the  original  supply  of  labor¬ 
ers  to  communicate  the  first  impulse,  and  then  let  these  give 
that  shape  and  direction  to  their  operations  which  may  most 
speedily  cause  the  field  itself  to  send  forth  the  continuous 
supply. 

The  Gospel  can  only  be  said  to  flourish  when  it  can  live  and 
perpetuate  itself  independent  of  foreign  aid.  Up  to  this  point 
it  is  not  truly  a  thing  of  the  soil,  but  an  exotic.  A  few  real 
propagators  of  Christianity  are  worth  more  than  thousands  of 
converts  unable  to  diffuse  sound  views  of  Christian  truth,  or  to 
hand  them  down  to  succeeding  generations  without  the  aid  of 
foreign  teachers.  As  regards  the  interests  of  a  realm,  one 
Knox  is  worth  a  thousand  peasants,  though  his  soul  be  no  more 
precious  than  one  of  theirs.  Hence  the  rearing  of  native 
preachers,  well  qualified  to  stand  alone  and  diffuse  the  truth, 
should  be,  not  a  secondary  or  subordinate,  but  a  primary  de¬ 
partment  of  missionary  labor  in  India.  This  view  is  strength¬ 
ened  by  the  extreme  difficulty  with  which  even  the  present 
number  of  European  laborers  is  maintained,  and  the  extreme 
disproportion  between  the  force  engaged  and  the  land  to  be  pos¬ 
sessed.  If  Itinerancy  he  offered  as  a  remedy,  enabling  one  man 
to  pass  over  a  large  surface  of  territory,  proclaiming  the  Gos¬ 
pel,  the  question  arises,  *  What  propect  of  ultimate  success  is 
held  out  by  this  plan!’  And  the  answer  returned  is,  that  with¬ 
out  the  repetition  of  the  same  means  in  the  same  locality,  we 
can  expect  only  a  scattered  and  unsubstantial  harvest  from 
this  mode  of  sowing  the  soil. 

“  In  scattering  handfuls  of  corn  over  the  frozen  crust  and 
towering  eminences  of  the  Himalaya,  a  single  grain  might 


10 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


obtain  a  lodgment  it  the  crevice  of  a  naked  rock;  and  then, 
exposed  to  the  concentrated  rays  of  a  summer  sun,  it  might 
rear  its  nodding  form  far  aloft,  amid  a  region  of  sublime  ster¬ 
ility;  but  what  prospect  would  that  hold  out  of  reaping  the 
bountiful  returns  of  an  autumnal  increase!”  Even  for  a  cir¬ 
cuit  itinerancy,  however,  we  cannot  command  a  sufficiency  ot 
foreign  laborers.  The  climate  forbids  this  mode  of  labor  in 

<D 

many  districts  during  a  great  part  of  the  year;  the  advantage 
gained  is  lost  for  want  of  being  steadily  followed  up;  the 
breached  fort  is  repaired  before  the  assault  is  renewed;  a  vo¬ 
cabulary  depraved  by  heathen  associations  nullifies  much  that 
is  said  by  the  preachers.  These  evils  can  only  be  remedied 
by  patient  reiteration,  explanation,  and  illustration.  On  these 
and  other  accounts,  preaching  must  be  not  erratic  but  localiz¬ 
ed;  but,  if  localized,  it  must  be  largely  multiplied  to  meet  the 
emergency.  Hence,  we  must  have  native  preachers  to  itiner¬ 
ate  widely,  wisely,  and  well.  They  can  live  at  a  far  less  expense 
than  the  European,  labor  more  widely,  reach  the  people  more 
fully,  and  command  the  language  more  perfectly.  uThe  real 
reformers  of  Hindustan  must  be  Hindus.”  Beside  sending 
men  directly  to  preach  the  Gospel  our  societies  must  send  others 
to  devote  time,  talents,  and  energies  to  raising  up  a  native 
ministry;  and  this  can  be  best  done  by  a  long,  thorough,  per¬ 
severing  prosecution  of  the  educational  system,  with  the  use 
of  the  English  language.  It  will  not,  we  think,  be  an  unfair 
statement  of  this  theory  of  missions  to  say  that  its  chief  tenet 
is,  that  the  foreign  missionary  should  rather  devote  himself 
to  the  raising  up  and  training  of  native  evangelists,  than  aim 
himself  to  be  the  evangelist. 

Whilst  one  portion  of  the  missionary  force  has  thus  inclin¬ 
ed  to  a  divergence  from  the  main  body  towards  a  more  exclu¬ 
sive  use  of  educational  agencies,  another  portion  of  the  iorce> 
with  a  kindred  zeal  for  the  speediest  possible  conquest  of  the 
world  by  the  Church,  has,  as  we  intimated,  diverged  in  a  dif¬ 
ferent  direction.  It  maintains  that  the  foreign  missionary 
should  be,  in  the  fullest  sense,  an  evangelist, — putting  his  trust 
in  the  oral  publication  of  the  Gospel  to  adults,  and  repudiat- 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 


11 


ing  schools  as  a  means  of  evangelization.  This  theory  has 
been  more  or  less  fully  adopted  by  the  controlling  authorities 
of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  with  the  warm  concurrence 
of  President  Way  land;  by  the  Arcot  Mission  of  the  American 
Board,  and  by  individual  missionaries. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  held 
in  Philadelphia  in  May,  1854,  was  rendered  memorable  by  a 
highly  exciting  and  very  full  discussion  of  the  Report  of  the 
Deputation  commissioned  to  visit  the  missions  of  the  Union 
in  the  East  Indies.  This  Deputation,  consisting  of  the  Rev. 
Solomon  Peck,  D.  D.,  Foreign  Secretary,  and  the  Rev.  James 
N.  Grainger,  met  the  missionaries  of  the  Union  laboring  in  Bur- 
mah,  in  convention;  and,  after  a  six  week’s  discussion,  decided, 
with  the  concurrence  of  the  majority  of  the  missionaries  pres¬ 
ent,  upon  certain  changes  in  the  mode  of  conducting  the  missions 
of  the  Union  in  the  East.  The  grand  principle  laid  down  and 
followed  in  these  changes  was,  that  “  oral  preaching  is  the  Di¬ 
vinely  app  Anted  and  Divinely  honored  mode  of  evangelization. 
To  secure  to  the  work  of  preaching  its  rightful  position,  it  was 
decided  that  every  ordained  missionary  should  give  his  strength 
to  this  work,  subordinating  to  it  all  other  labors.  With  regard 
to  schools,  two  principles  were  laid  down.  These  were, — first, 
that  u  schools  are  not  a  wise  or  scripturally  appointed  agency 
for  propagating  Christianity  among  a  heathen  people;  ”  second, 
“  that,  whatever  be  their  value,  it  is  subordinate  to  that  of 
preachipg  the  Gospel  to  the  adult  population  ;  that  they  are 
in  no  respect  to  be  regarded  as  a  substitute  for,  or  a  mode  of 
preaching;  and  that  the  measure  of  demand  for  them  is  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  success  which  attends  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.”  From  these  principles  the  deputation  derived  “  the 
lule ,”  that  mission  schools  should  be  chiefly,  if  not  exclusive¬ 
ly,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Christian  population,  the  converts  and 
their  children.  It  was  farther  recommended  that  in  the  schools, 
both  primary,  normal,  and  theological,  established  for  training 
Christian  teachers,  and  preachers,  the  English  language  be 
excluded. 

These  changes  caused  much  feeling  upon  the  part  of  some 


12 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

of  the  missionaries,  and  of  the  supporters  of  the  Union,  and 
gave  rise  to  a  series  of  warm  discussions.  The  principles  laid 
down  by  the  Deputation  were  however  sustained  and  adopted 
by  the  meeting. 

At  the  same  convocation,  a  report,  drawn  up  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Wayland,  late  of  Brown  University,  was  recommended  as 
“containing  most  important  principles  for  the  consideration 
and  guidance  of  our  missionaries  and  of  the  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee.  ” 

In  this  report  Dr.  Wayland  argues,  that  the  special  object 
of  Christian  benevolence  is  to  convert  men  to  God.  The 
means  to  be  used  is  the  preaching  of  Christ  and  him  crucified. 
This  is  the  only  appointed  means  for  producing  this  effect;  and 
by  preaching,  he  understands,  the  oral  communication  of  di¬ 
vine  truth  by  man  to  man.  As  to  teaching,  it  is  unnecessary 
as  a  preparatory  work;  it  has  not  apostolic  precedent;  nor  is 
it  the  lawful  work  of  an  ordained  preacher  under  the  Saviours 
commission.  If  it  be  argued,  that  the  aged  are  hardened,  and 
that  the  young  should  be  imbued  with  scriptural  truth  and 
led  to  Christ;  he  replies,  that  to  the  infinite  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  u  all  things  are  equally  easy;”  that  we  cannot  expect 
the  young,  if  converted,  to  bear  the  brunt  of  persecution; 
that,  in  fact,  children  are  not  the  first  converts  in  missions; 
and  that  teaching  is  an  uneconomical  use  of  men.  In  brief, 
that  schools  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  means  preparatory  to 
preaching,  nor  as  a  scriptural  instrument  of  evangelization. 
In  concluding  the  report  he  says,  “  We  can  perceive  no  essen¬ 
tial  difference  between  the  position  of  missionaries  in  a  heathen 
land  at  the  present  day,  and  the  position  of  the  apostles  and 
first  preachers  of  Christianity.  We  learn  the  manner  in  which 
they  labored  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  We  can  see  no 
good  reason,  therefore,  for  adopting  any  other  method  than 
that  pursued  by  those  instructed  by  the  Saviour  himself.” 

The  Arcot  Mission  of  the  American  Board,  composed  of 
three  brothers  bearing  a  name  honored  in  the  annals  of  missions, 
adopted,  in  1853,  a  code  of  rules  for  the  guidance  and  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  Mission.  From  that  portion  of  those  rules  relating 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


13 


to  44  preaching  and  education, ”  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  views 
of  this  Mission  on  these  topics  are  very  nearly  co-incident  with 
those  of  the  Baptist  Deputation.  As  this  is  the  only  Mission 
of  the  American  Board,  which,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  has 
taken  this  strong  ground  against  the  use  of  schools  as  a  branch 
of  evangelistic  effort,  we  give  this  part  of  the  11  rules”  with¬ 
out  abridgment: 

Preaching  and  Education. 

“  Whereas ,  we  believe  that  India, with  its  teeming  population, 
is  accessible  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  from  her  lowliest 
village  to  her  most  crowded  city,  and — 

“  That  God  has  endowed  the  Hindus  with  intellect  peculiar¬ 
ly  capable  of  comprehending  the  truths  which  He  has  revealed, 
and  with  conscience  fitted  to  be  awakened  thereby,  and — 

44  That  neither  schools  nor  any  other  preparative  human 
instrumentalities  are  necessary  in  order  to  bring  the  masses 
into  a  condition  of  fitness  for  hearing  the  Gospel,  and — 

“  That  the  way  for  the  triumphs  of  Christianity  is  to  be 
prepared  by  its  public  proclamation,  and — 

44  That  the  vernacular  languages  of  India  furnish  media  ful¬ 
ly  adapted  to  the  clear  and  forcible  communication  of  divine 
truth,  and — 

44  That  missionaries  can  easily,  with  moderate  diligence  and 
perseverance,  acquire  the  vernaculars  so  as  to  become  good 
preachers,  and — 

44  That  Christ’s  commission  recorded  by  the  Evangelists  en¬ 
joins,  as  the  definite  plan  of  missionary  labor,  the  promulga¬ 
tion  of  the  Gospel  among  the  population  in  their  own 
tongues — the  perseverance  in  the  use  of  this  means  until  in¬ 
dividuals  and  communities  are  proselyted  to  the  Christian 
faith — and  the  education  of  proselytes  and  their  children, 
and — 

44  That  the  wisdom  of  this  or  of  any  other  age  is  incapable 
of  originating  better  modes  of  agency  than  that  simple  and 
mighty  one  instituted  by  Christ ;  therefore 


14 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 

« Resolved ,  1.  That  the  words  of  our  Lord,  ‘Preach  the 
Gospel,’  are  recognized  as  the  foundation  stone  of  this  Mis¬ 
sion. 

“2.  That  this  Mission  cannot  encumber  itself  with  educa¬ 
tional  establishments  intended  for  heathen  children  and 
youth. 

“3.  That  this  Mission  cannot  allow  any  educational  insti¬ 
tutions,  except  those  which  spring  out  of  the  necessities  of 
such  communities  as  may  be  proselyted  to  the  Christian  faith. 

“4.  That  all  such  institutions  be  strictly  limited  to  baptized 
children  and  children  of  proselytes. 

“  5.  That  the  instruction  given  in  all  such  institutions  shall 
be  restricted  to  the  classical  and  vernacular  languages  of 
India.” 

It  will  be  at  once  perceived  that  the  first  point  to  be  set¬ 
tled  in  this  discussion  is,  the  truth  of  the  promise  upon  which 
the  theory  of  missions  last  given  is  built.  Ii  it  be  true  that 
the  position  of  the  modern  missionary  to  the  heathen  is  so 
essentially  identical  with  that  of  the  apostles,  as  is  assumed 
by  the  supporters  of  this  view,  then  can  a  decision  be  most 

easily  reached. 

If  the  end  to  be  attained  now  is  the  same  as  in  apostolic 
times,  and,  also,  if  the  circumstances  attendant  upon  the  at¬ 
tainment  of  this  end  are  the  same,  or  substantially  the  same, 
then  must  we  pronounce  any  serious  departure  from  the  exam¬ 
ple  of  inspired  men,  commissioned  and  prepared  for  this  work 
by  Christ  himself,  to  be  wrong.  No  plea  of  expediency,  or 
of  more  mature  wisdom,  could  justify  the  modern  missionary 
in  leaving  the  path  trodden  by  the  apostles.  Admitting  that 
the  work  to  be  done  is  substantially  the  same,  that  is,  the 
permanent  planting  of  the  Church  in  heathen  or  anti-Chris¬ 
tian  lands,  we  will  inquire  whether  the  circumstances  ot  the 
work,  now  and  then,  are  so  essentially  or  so  nearly  the  same, 
as  to  shut  us  up  to  the  letter  of  apostolic  precedent.  If  the 
facts  render  an  affirmative  answer,  then  the  method  of  mis¬ 
sions  is  a  matter  of  interpretation — the  apostolic  history  be¬ 
ing  our  text — and  theories  or  reasonings  as  to  modes  of  pro- 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 


15 


cedure,  are  treason  against  the  simplicity  of  Christian  confix 
dence  in  the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Let  us  briefly  but 
fairly  examine  this  point,  as  one  of  immense  importance,  de¬ 
ciding,  as  it  does,  whether  we  shall  or  shall  not  reason  as  to 
the  best  mode  of  conducting  missions  among  the  unevangel¬ 
ized. 

Are  the  circumstances  under  which  modern  missions  are  con¬ 
ducted  so  identical  with  those  under  which  they  were  conduct¬ 
ed  in  the  apostolic  age  as  to  shut  us  ujp  to  the  letter  of  apostolic 
precedent  ? 

The  question  regards  two  parties, — -the  actors,  and  those 
acted  upon — the  preacher  and  the  hearers — the  missionary 
and  the  field. 

And  first,  turning  to  the  apostolic  age,  let  us  inquire  as  to 
the  agents  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  work  of  evangeliza¬ 
tion.  Who  were  they,  and  howr  were  they  qualified  and 
equipped  for  their  errand? 

(1.)  They  were  men  fresh  from  the  teachings  of  Him  who 
spake  as  never  man  spake ;  witnesses  of  his  resistless  power 
over  things  animate  and  inanimate  ;  filled  with  the  conscious¬ 
ness  of  a  divine  mission  to  a  world  lying  in  darkness  and  sin; 
burning  with  zeal  for  a  crucified  but  risen  Saviour,  and  ani¬ 
mated  by  the  fervor  and  freshness  of  enthusiasm  to  which  a 
new  faith,  when  unhesitatingly  received,  ever  gives  birth. 
They  were,  in  fine,  Apostles  of  Christ,  the  Lord  of  Glory. 

(2.)  The  apostles,  moreover,  were  endowed  with  the  power 
of  working  miracles,  as  an  illustration  of  their  divine  mission. 
They  were  thus  furnished  with  a  means  of  inestimable  power 
for  arresting  the  thoughtless,  attracting  about  them  multitudes 
of  hearers,  convincing  them  of  the  divineness  of  their  mission, 
and  so  leading  them  to  consider  and  yield  to  the  doctrines 
brought  with  such  sanctions  to  their  notice. 

(3.)  They  were  also,  by  a  special  supernatural  gift, — that 
of  tongues,  or  speaking  various  languages  without  previous 
study, — enabled  to  address  men  freely  in  foreign  lands,  and  to 
enforce  upon  them  the  teachings  to  which  the  miraculous 
powers  already  noticed,  had  given  illustration. 


16  The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 

(4  )  It  further  appears  from  the  inspired  record  that  the 
apostles  had  conferred  upon  them  a  supernatural  discern¬ 
ment,  by  which  they  were  guided  in  the  choice  of  men  to  fill 
posts  of  responsibility  in  the  infant  churches  which  were  un¬ 
der  their  preaching. 

(5.)  And,  finally,  we  see  that' on  passing  from  churches 
thus  instituted,  to  carry  to  new  fields  the  Gospel  banner,  the 
apostles  left  behind  them  men  miraculously  raised  up,  and 
miraculously  endowed  with  gifts  for  the  edification,  instruc¬ 
tion,  government,  and  extension  of  the  churches.  These  offi¬ 
cers  of  the  apostolic  age,  and  their  gifts,  are  summarily 
designated  (1  Cor.  xii.  28)  as  “prophets,  teachers,  miracles, 
gifts  of  healings,  helps,  governments,  diversities  of  tongues.” 

Such,  in  part,  was  the  equipment  of  the  apostles  for  their 
work,  as  promulgators  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Let  us  now 
glance  at  the  circumstances  of  the  fields  to  which  they  were 
sent,  as  far  as  they  bear  upon  the  present  inquiry.  The  apos¬ 
tles  went  from  Judea,  mainly  to  the  cities  of  Greece,  Asia 
Minor  and  Macedonia  ;  to  Rome,  Alexandria,  and  other  cities 
of  the  Roman  empire.  The  bare  statement  will,  of  itself,  sug¬ 
gest  to  the  reader  the  point  to  which  we  wish  to  direct  atten¬ 
tion,  namely,  that  the  apostles  went  from  less  to  more  civil¬ 
ized  communities — from  a  land  of  comparatively  low  literary 
culture  to  the  high  places  of  learning  for  the  then  known 
world.  Judea  might  shed  moral,  but  not  scientific  or  literary 
light,  upon  the  renowned  cities  of  Greece.  The  very  names 
of  Athens,  Fergamos,  Alexandria  and  Rome  in  the  Augustan 
age,  so  synonymous  with  memories  of  ancient  learning  and 
science,  preclude  the  necessity  of  enlarging  upon  this  topic. 

It  should  also  be  noted,  that  we  learn  from  the  inspired 
record  of  the  labors  of  the  chief  evangelist  of  the  apostolic 
company — what  we  gather  also  from  profane  history — that 
almost  into  whatever  city  or  town  the  preacher  of  that 
generation  entered,  he  there  found,  in  the  first  place,  a  com¬ 
pany  collected  in  the  synagogue,  ready  to  admit  everything 
he  claimed  but  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  and 
also  a  community  more  or  less  acquainted  with  the  mono- 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


17 


theistic  faith  of  Judea,  and  prepared  to  appreciate  the  argu¬ 
ments  from  the  Old  Testament,  the  sacred  book  of  the  Jews 
who  lived  beside  them,  to  the  New  Testament,  which  the 
apostles  maintained  to  be  its  complement  and  key.  Finally, 
the  apostles  had  not  the  printing  press,  with  its  facilities,  for 
the  multiplication  of  written  volumes. 

Let  us  glance  now  at  the  modern  missionary  and  his  field, 
that  we  may  see  whether  his  position  is  in  all  things  the  same 
as  that  of  the  apostle,  or  so  nearly  the  same  as  to  shut  him 
up  to  a  use  of  the  same  means  so  far  as  he  can  command 
them.  Look  at  the  man  and  his  qualifications.  The  com¬ 
mission  directly  conferred  by  Christ,  the  miraculous  endow¬ 
ments  to  attest  his  errand,  the  gift  of  tongues,  supernatural 
discernment,  the  miraculous  provision  of  successors  from  the 
native  church,  with  which  the  apostles  were  furnished — are 
those  his]  And,  on  the  other  hand,  his  field.  Does  he  go 
from  less  to  more  learned  lands]  from  less  to  more  cultivated 
nations]  Does  he  find  the  synagogue  with  its  open  Bible, 
and  an  audience  prepared  by  mental  culture  to  appreciate  his 
words  and  arguments  ]  We  need  hardly  say  that  the  diversi¬ 
ty,  under  both  heads,  is  most  striking  ;  nor  need  we  occupy 
our  limited  space  by  tracing  out  for  the  reader  the  lines  of 
difference  which  his  own  acquaintance  with  the  subject  will 
supply.  Omitting  the  mention  of  other  very  striking  differ¬ 
ences  between  the  position  of  the  Christian  evangelist  of  that 
day  and  this,  it  is  enough  for  our  present  purpose  if  we  can 
assert,  as  we  think  that  we  safely  may,  that  the  circumstances 
under  which  modern  missions  are  conducted  are  not  so  identi¬ 
cal  with  those  under  which  they  were  conducted  in  apostolic 
times ,  as  to  shut  us  up  to  the  letter  of  apostolic  precedent. 
Hence,  to  show  in  the  modes  of  conducting  missions  at  the 
present  day  a  departure  from  apostolic  precedent,  is  not  of 
itself  a  proof  of  error  on  the  part  of  our  missionaries,  or  of 
the  directors  of  our  missionary  boards.  Error  there  may  be, 
and  doubtless  often  is,  but  it  is  not  proved  by  the  fact  that 
means  are  used  not  found  in  apostolic  precedents. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  that  the  advocates  of  a  strict  adhe- 
2 


18 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


rence  to  apostolic  example  should  limit  their  scruples  to  a 
single  point.  In  the  matter  of  schools  no  exception  can  be 
made,  no  variation  be  allowed.  The  apostles  established  no 
schools;  their  example  is  our  law  of  procedure;  therefore 
the  modern  missionary  may  not  establish  schools — a  syllogism 
from  which  they  see  no  escape.  Let  circumstances  be  what 
they  may,  the  indications  of  Providence  what  they  will,  it 
matters  not,  there  is  but  one  divinely  appointed  mode  of 
evangelization,  and  that  is  not  the  establishment  of  schools. 
But  why  may  we  not  insert  “  printing  press  ”  in  the  place  of 
“schools'?”  Will  not  the  syllogism  be  as  true?  Or  if 
“executive  committee ”  or  “  mission  treasurer  ”  be  inserted, 
will  not  the  argument  be  as  sound  ?  Nay,  if  we  are  to  dis¬ 
regard  the  Providential  changes  which  make  the  nineteenth 
century  to  differ  from  the  first,  should  we  not  abjure  such 
unapostolic  machinery  as  boards,  committees  and  secretaries? 
Should  we  not  turn  from  the  steamboat  and  rail-road,  and  dis¬ 
carding  letters  of  credit,  take  our  staff  and  scrip  and  set  out 
in  truly  primitive  style  for  our  field  of  labor  ;  and  when  there, 
renouncing  the  use  of  those  modern  innovations  the  printed 
Bible  and  tracts,  should  we  not  sit  down  to  copy  out,  on 
apostolic  “parchments,”  the  Epistles  and  Gospels  needed  for 
the  churches  \ 

-  It  will  be  replied,  doubtless,  “  We  do  not  deny  the  existence 
of  circumstantial  differences  of  position  of  the  two  parties;  it 
is  ‘  essential  differences’  whose  existence  we  deny.”  If  so,  let 
it  be  conceded  that  circumstantial  differences  of  position  will 
call  for  circumstantial  changes  in  the  modes  of  procedure,  and 
on  this  point  their  need  be  no  further  controversy.  All  agree 
as  to  the  essential  aim  and  scope  of  the  missionary  work;  it  is 
to  bring  the  glorious  truths  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  so 
to  bear  upon  men  in  heathen  lands  that  the  Church  may,  in  the 
speediest  and  best  way  possible,  be  built  up  over  the  whole 
earth.  In  doing  this,  let  us  not  ignore  the  existence  of  a  state 
©f  things  which  compels  us  to  ask,  not  merely,  how  did  the 
apostles  labor,  but  how  far  shall  existing  circumstances  modi¬ 
fy  our  imitation  of  their  modes  of  labor.  The  apostles  used 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 


every  appliance  fairly  within  their  reach.  To  do  the  same 
discriminatingly,  prayerfully  and  zealously,  is  truly  to  follow 
in  their  footsteps.  They  did  not  go  from  Judea  to  found 
schools  in  Athens;  but  it  by  no  means  follows  that,  if  to-day  they 
were  to  go,  without  miraculous  endowments,  from  New  Ena-- 
land  to  South  Africa,  they  would  refuse  to  found  schools  there. 
W  e  are  willing  to  believe  that  now,  as  in  the  first  century,  they 
would  follow  the  leadings  of  Providence,  and  strive  bv  all  wise 
means  to  save  some  of  those  by  whom  they  were  surrounded. 

But,  says  Dr.  Wayland,  in  the  report  alluded  to,  “It  is  cer¬ 
tainly  wrong  to  ordain  ministers  and  send  them  forth  as  preach¬ 
ers  of  the  gospel  under  the  Saviour’s  commission,  when  we 
only  mean  them  to  be  school  teachers.”  And  again:  “  Who 
shall  labor  in  the  work  of  education  ?  (i.  e.  after  Christianity 
has  been  planted  on  a  foreign  soil.)  If  the  views  just  express¬ 
ed  be  correct,  it  will  follow,  that  this  is  a  work  not  to  be  de¬ 
volved  on  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  ”  Truly  this  is  a  re¬ 
markable  proposition  to  emanate  from  a  New  England  college. 
The  fathers  of  that  favored  portion  of  our  country  seemed  to 
have  no  such  scruples,  when  they  called  ordained  men  to  un¬ 
dertake  the  training  of  youth  in  old  Yale  and  Harvard.  Nor, 
in  later  times,  have  their  successors  withheld  from  these  and 
younger  seminaries  of  learning  their  most  gifted  pulpit  orators 
and  scholars.  Certainly  no  such  theory  was  held  by  our  Pres¬ 
byterian  fathers,  who  hesitated  not  to  place  in  educational 
chairs,  the  most  useful  and  eminent  of  their  ordained  pastors, 
or  even  to  call  the  great  Edwards  from  his  Mission  to  the  In¬ 
dians  to  preside  in  the  College  of  Nassau  Hall.  And  with  the 
highest  admiration  for  the  character,  and  most  heartfelt  esteem 
for  the  services  of  the  distinguished  author  of  the  sentiment 
we  have  quoted,  we  cannot  avoid  an  expression  of  surprise 
that  it  should  have  come  from  the  Reverend  President  of  Brown 
University.  The  very  extent  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  cause 
of  education  to  the  labors  of  his  best  years  makes  it  the  more 
unaccountable.  Will  it  be  said  that  it  is  the  Missionary  of 
whom  we  are  talking — that  circumstances  are  widely  different 
at  home?  And  is  it  so,  that  apostolic  precedent  is  outlawed 


20 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


from  America?  Is  it  only  to  be  made  an  unbending  rule  for 
the  evangelist  sent  to  heathen  India?  Is  he  to  be  shut  up  to 
one  way  of  reaching  the  heart  and  one  mode  of  doing  good, 
whilst  the  Christian  ministers  of  America  may  range  over  the 
whole  field  of  useful  effort  and  adapt  their  powers  to  separate 
spheres  of  action,  as  God  and  his  people  shall  direct  ?  Must 
the  man  who  single  handed  and  alone  is  to  do  every  thing,  un¬ 
der  God  to  raise  a  nation  from  the  depths  of  a  degraded  idola¬ 
try  to  Christian  life  and  light,  be  restricted  to  a  single  instru¬ 
ment,  whilst  we  at  home  may  bend  every  agency  and  apply 
every  new  power  to  the  accomplishment  of  a  lighter  task  ? 
No  !  This  were  a  monstrous  wrong  !  In  the  name  of  justice, 
we  demand,  that  if  restriction  be  laid  any  where,  it  be  not  up¬ 
on  the  man  who,  with  the  least  assistance,  has  the  greatest  and 
hardest  work  to  do.  We  say  not  now  what  it  is  wisest  for 
him  to  do,  but  we  protest  against  this  laying  down  of  restrict¬ 
ions  for  the  missionary,  whilst  leaving  to  his  brother  in  Christian 
lands  a  margin  of  the  widest  liberty. 

Many  important  topics  suggest  themselves  in  this  conection; 
but  we  may  not  linger  here,  lest  we  exceed  the  limits  to  which 
we  can  lay  claim.  With  a  few  remarks  on  the  Rules  of  the 
Arcot  Mission,  given  on  a  proceeding  page,  we  pass  to  another 
part  of  our  subject.  With  the  Preamble  we,  in  the  main,  heart- 
i]y  agree.  The  acessibility  of  India;  the  ability  of  the  Hindus  to 
comprehend  Gospel  truths;  their  fitness  to  hear  them  proclaim¬ 
ed,  and  the  prime  importance  of  the  preaching  of  these  truths 
to  the  masses  in  their  own  tongue,  are  points  we  have  no  desire 
to  dispute.  We  know  of  no  American  mission  in  which  they 
would  not  be  heartly  endorsed.  The  se  venth  section,  however, 
records  a  more  “  definite  plan  of  missionary  labor,”  as  enjoin¬ 
ed  by  Christ’s  commission  to  the  Apostles  than  we  have  been 
wont  to  find  in  those  simple  yet  comprehensive  words.  With 
this,  however,  we  shall  not  quarrel,  as  it  merely  expresses  the 
belief  of  the  members  of  the  Arcot  Mission  in  the  year  1853 
as  to  the  teachings  of  the  Redeemer’s  last  command.  Neither 
shall  we  dispute  the  right  of  these  brethren  to  lay  down  rules 
for  their  guidance  in  the  prosecution  of  their  work  in  accord- 


21 


The  Foreign  Mission  .  Question. 

ance  with  their  views  of  the  true  theory  of  missions.  Rather 
would  we  wish  them  God  speed  in  their  labors,  and  rejoice  in 
their  success. 

So  long  as  the  Mission  is  fully  agreed  in  this  matter,  we 
should  have  no  disposition  to  compel  it  “  to  encumber  itself  with 
educational  establishments  for  heathen  youth.”  (See  Resolu¬ 
tions  on  a  former  page.)  Nor  if,  when  a  Christian  commun¬ 
ity,  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the  preaching  of  his  Word, 
had  grown  up,  and  educational  institutions  had  been  establish¬ 
ed  for  it,  a  child  of  heathen  parents  should  knock  at  the  door 
and  implore  admittance,  the  reply  should  be,  “We  have  no 
place  in  our  scheme  for  the  instruction  of  heathen  youth — all 
such  institutions  in  this  Mission  are  c  strictly  limited  to  baptiz¬ 
ed  children  and  to  children  of  proselytes,’  ”  should  we  wish 
to  dispute  their  right  to  decide  this  question  thus,  so  far  as  the 
Arcot  Mission  is  concerned.  But  if  the  demand  be  made  that 
the  spirit  of  these  rules  be  subscribed  to  by  the  Missions  at 
Madras,  Madura,  Jaffna,  Bombay;  nay,  by  all  missions  in  the 
whole  world,  as  the  only  divinely  appointed  made  of  evangel - 
ization ,  then  we  must  protest  against  so  unwarranted  an  as¬ 
sumption  of  exclusive  apostolicity. 

The  merits  of  the  question,  as  to  the  wisdom  or  otherwise 
of  the  use  of  educational  establishments  in  our  missions,  will 
be  involved  in  some  remarks  to  be  made  before  we  close. 

That  which  most  practically  interests  us  in  this  matter  is  the 
course  pursued  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  It  is  through  this  organization  that  we  have 
for  many  years  done  all  that  we  have  done  for  the  evangeliza¬ 
tion  of  heathen  lands.  It  is  to  its  discretion  that  we  now  en¬ 
trust  our  contributions  of  money.  It  is  for  its  missions  especi¬ 
ally  that  our  prayers  are  offered  up;  and  it  is  to  its  care  that 
we  commit  our  brethren  who  devote  themselves  to  this  work. 
Hence,  the  views  and  policy  of  the  American  Board  are  to  us 
matters  of  the  weightiest  interest.  They  should  receive  our 
closest  attention,  if  we  would  do  our  duty  to  the  cause  of  mis¬ 
sions,  and  to  those  whom  we  send  forth  in  this  glorious  work. 
To  which  then  of  the  two  differing  theories  which  have  been 


22 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 


sketched  does  this  Board  incline.  What  views  as  to  modes  of 
missionary  action  are  held  by  its  controlling  powers?  In  reply, 
it  may  be  said,  that  the  course  pursued  by  the  Board  from  its 
organization  has  been  a  mean  between  these  two  extremes. 
Rejecting  no  instrumentality  that  gave  promise  of  doing  good 
service  to  the  cause,  it  has  used  them  all.  Its  object,  as  defin¬ 
ed  by  its  published  laws  and  regulations,  is,  “  to  propagate  the 
gospel  among  the  unevangelized  nations  and  communities,  by 
means  of  preachers,  catechists,  school-masters,  and  the  press.” 
The  missionaries  have  had  a  reasonable  liberty  to  make  use  of  all 
of  these  modes  of  reaching  and  influencing  the  people  to  whom 
they  have  been  sent,  and  this  liberty  they  have  used,  although 
with  a  varying  amount  of  attention  to  the  several  branches  of 
effort  in  different  lands  and  missions.  The  propriety  of  the 
use  of  schools  in  connection  with  preaching,  as  a  branch  of 
evangelic  effort,  was  ably  advocated  in  an  Article  written  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Anderson,  Senior  Secretary  of  the  Board,  and 
published  in  the  Biblical  Repository  of  the  year  1838.  The 
views  there  devoloped  are  those  upon  which  the  missions  of 
the  American  Board  were  conducted  from  their  incipiency. 
Schools  for  heathen  youth  formed  a  part  of  the  equipment  of 
almost  every  station,  and  the  hopes  of  success  cherished  by 
the  friends  of  the  cause  at  home  were  partly  based  upon  the 
fruits  anticipated  from  the  Christian  training  of  the  young. 

With  the  increase  of  experience  in  the  work,  and  under  the 
incentives  to  inquiry  as  to  the  modes  already  adverted  to,  it 
was  to  be  expected  that  the  guiding  spirits  of  this  great  Mis¬ 
sionary  society,  should  be  led  to  examine  the  principles  upon 
which  its  operations  were  based.  That  old  views  should  be 
modified,  or  new  views  embraced,  need  be  no  matter  of  won¬ 
der.  But  it  will  be  as  little  matter  for  wonder,  that  the  Church¬ 
es  acting  through  their  Board,  should  claim  the  right  to  know 
the  changes  proposed  or  effected,  to  discuss  the  grounds  upon 
which  such  changes  are  founded,  and  to  decide  whether  the 
principles  involved  shall  be  adopted  as  the  policy  of  their  mis* 
sions  to  the  heathen.  It  is  not  our  privilege  only,  it  is  our 
sacred  duty  to  understand  the  theories  and  the  practice  of  our 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


23 


foreign  missionaries,  to  be  fully  in  sympathy  with  them  and 
their  work,  and  to  supervise  their  labors  as  truly  as  we  do  that 
of  the  home  missionary — a  duty,  it  must  be  said,  which  has 
been  most  shamefully  neglected  by  our  church  judicatories. 

For  several  years  past  it  has  been  evident  to  those  suffici¬ 
ently  interested  to  observe  the  course  of  things,  that  the  views 
of  the  Prudential  Committee  have  been  inclining  to  what  may 
be,  for  brevity,  styled  the  anti-educational  side  of  the  question. 
This  was  particularly  noticeable  in  the  instructions  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee,  given  by  Dr.  Anderson,  in  December,  1848,  to  the  first 
missionaries  to  the  Jews  of  Salonica.  The  missionaries  were 
distinctly  instructed,  that  the  Committee  were  not  prepared 
to  institute  schools  of  any  sort  in  the  new  mission.  In  the 
management  of  other  missions  of  the  Board  also,  the  influence 
of  the  Committee  has  been  decidedly  adverse  to  any  exten¬ 
sion  of  the  educational  system,  as  a  means  of  evangelization, 
and  more  particularly  so  to  the  use  of  the  English  language 
as  a  medium  of  instruction.  For  many  years,  if  we  are  cor¬ 
rectly  informed,  the  school  system  has  been  a  subject  of  cor¬ 
respondence  between  the  Missions  and  the  Committee.  Espe¬ 
cially  is  this  true  of  our  Indian  Missions.  In  that  particular¬ 
ly  difficult  and  interesting  field  of  effort,  with  a  population  so 
vast,  so  strangely  bound  by  caste,  so  subtle,  so  full  of  pride 
in  a  venerable  system  of  false  religion  and  false  science  ;  the 
literary  and  scientific,  as  well  as  religious  superiority  of 
Christianity,  has  been  largely  brought  to  bear  upon  the  peo¬ 
ple.  The  Committee,  year  by  year,  have  seemed  to  place 
less  and  less  confidence  in  educational  means,  and  to  be  more 
and  more  disposed  to  confine  missionary  labor,  as  a  part  of  a 
system  of  evangelization,  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to 
adults.  The  great  majority,  we  believe,  of  the  missionaries 
of  all  Societies  in  India,  have  felt  themselves  unable  to  see 
the  wisdom  of  this  position.  Whilst  maintaining  that  the 
public  oral  proclamation  of  the  truth  was  the  first  thing  in 
missions,  they  have  not  felt  that  it  was  every  thing  or  the 
only  thing.  Hence,  there  has  been  a  reluctance  on  the  part 
of  the  missionaries  of  the  American  Board,  to  adopt  measures 


24  The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

entirely  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  the  Committee. 
Nor  do  we  know  that  the  Committee  have  demanded  this. 
Whilst  seeking  to  keep  educational  operations  within  what 
seem  to  them  proper  limits,  and  perhaps  depressing  it  below 
what  some  of  the  missions  have  deemed  the  truest  policy  and 
economy,  we  do  not  know  that  they  have  demanded  an  entire 
change  of  policy  in  any  mission. 

So  great  was  the  difficulty  of  deciding  and  adjusting  this 
and  other  matters  by  correspondence  alone,  that  it  seemed 
advisable  to  the  Prudential  Committee  to  send  out  a  deputa¬ 
tion  to  visit  and  confer  with  their  missionaries  in  Hindustan. 
Accordingly  the  Rev.  Dr.  Anderson,  Secretary,  and  the  Rev. 
Augustus  C.  Thompson,  of  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  Committee,  sailed  for  India,  by  the  way  of  Eng¬ 
land,  in  August,  1854. 

The  objects  of  the  Deputation  are  thus  stated  in  the  An¬ 
nual  Report  for  1854:  “This  measure  is  regarded  by  the 
Prudential  Committee  as  being  every  way  economical  and 
wTise  ;  there  being  many  questions,  connected  with  consider¬ 
able  outlay  of  funds,  which  it  is  desirable  to  hasten  to  an 
earlier  and  more  satisfactory  adjustment  than  can  be  effected 
through  the  medium  of  written  correspondence,  or  of  con¬ 
verse  with  individual  missionaries  returning  from  their  fields; 
such  as  the  place  which  schools  and  education  should  hold 
among  the  means  for  evangelizing  the  people  of  India  ;  the 
comparative  use  that  should  be  made  of  the  English  and  of 
the  vernacular  languages  in  education  ;  the  most  economical 
and  effectual  method  of  training  native  preachers,  pastors, 
and  helpers  ;  the  inquiry  as  to  the  expediency  of  a  more 
rapid  and  extensive  institution  of  a  native  pastorate,  with 
the  whole  subject  of  the  support  of  native  evangelical 
laborers  ;  the  providing  of  houses  for  preaching  and  public 
worship  together  with  the  provision  to  be  made  for 
Christian  communities  ;  the  use  of  the  press  ;  relations  to 
other  societies,  and  the  comparative  importance  of  different 
fields  of  labor. 

Here,  it  will  be  seen,  is  a  schedule  of  topics  of  the  highest 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


25 


importance,  and  of  topics  upon  which  it  is  of  great  moment 
that  the  Committee  should  have  a  personal  intelligence.  It 
is  so  utterly  impossible  to  obtain  a  satisfactory  understanding 
of  these  matters  without  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
fields  and  people,  without  looking  the  thing  itself  in  the  face, 
that  the  sending  of  their  Senior  Secretary,  with  a  member  of 
the  Committee  to  visit  the  Indian  Missions,  is  an  act  at  once 
natural  and  wise.  A  personal  interview  with  the  men  who 
have  been  spending  their  lives  in  the  work,  upon  the  ground 
and  among  the  people,  it  might  be  expected,  would  give  to  a 
Secretary  more  real  information  than  volumes  of  correspon¬ 
dence,  whilst  it  would  also  afford  him  an  opportunity  for  more 
fully  unfolding  to  the  Missionaries  his  own  views.  After 
such  a  visit,  the  letters  written  would  come  with  an  apprecia¬ 
ble  reality  and  instructiveness  not  before  possessed.  At  the 
same  time,  a  sympathy  between  the  patrons  and  officers  of 
the  Society  at  home,  and  the  laborious  agents  abroad,  would 
be  engendered,  that  would  do  much  to  hold  up  the  hands 
ready  to  fail,  and  to  cheer  the  weary  heart  of  the  oft  anxious 
and  care-worn  missionary. 

When,  however,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board,  held 
at  Hartford,  in  September,  1854,  a  few  weeks  after  the  de¬ 
parture  of  the  Deputation  for  India,  a  special  Report  on  the 
“  Div;ne  Instrumentality  for  the  World’s  Conversion,”  was 
read  by  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Board  on  behalf  of  the 
Prudential  Committee,  it  was  appehended  by  those  conver¬ 
sant  with  the  state  of  things,  that  the  Deputation  had  not  gone 
out  so  much  to  learn,  as  to  teach — so  much  to  consult  as  to 
act.  Although  the  spirit  of  the  Report  is  most  excellent,  and 
'  its  positions,  in  the  main,  such  as  few  would  dissent  from,  yet, 
discussing  as  it  did  the  question  in  debate  between  the  Mis¬ 
sions  and  the  Committee,  and  coming,  as  it  did,  immediately 
upon  the  departure  of  the  Deputation,  it  appeared  to  be  de¬ 
signed  to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  action  already  decided 
upon.  This  apprehension,  whether  well  or  ill-founded,  would 
seem  to  be  justified  by  the  reports  of  the  movements  of  the 
Deputation  so  far  as  received.  At  the  late  meeting  of  the 


20 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 

Board,  in  Utica  the  belief  that  changes  had  been  effected  in 
the  policy  of  the  India  Missions,  in  accordance  with  pre-con- 
ceived  theories  of  the  Committee  and  its  Secretaries,  rather 
than  as  the  result  of  a  change  of  views  on  the  part  of  its 
missionaries,  was  manifest.  Regret  was  felt  and  expressed 
that  the  matter  had  not  been  communicated  to  the  Board  be¬ 
fore  action  was  had.  Although  it  appeared  to  be  too  late  to 
arrest  such  action,  in  part,  at  least,  it  having  been  already 
taken,  it  was  manifestly  the  will  of  the  meeting  that,  so  far 
as  possible,  all  of  the  proposed  alterations  should  be  suspended 
until  the  decision  of  the  Board  could  be  had  upon  them. 
From  the  special  meeting  to  be  called  upon  the  return  of  the 
Deputation,  we  hope  for  good  results.  A  kindly  discussion  of 
the  principles  upon  which  our  missions  are  conducted  and 
should  be  conducted,  must  lead  to  the  happiest  results.  The 
Churches  supporting  the  missions  of  the  American  Board, 
claim  the  right  both  of  understanding  these  principles  and  of 
expressing  their  views  upon  any  questions  involving  a  just  and 
wise  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Board,  with  the  ex¬ 
pectation  that  their  wishes  will  be  respected.  They  can  only 
be  led  suitably  to  sympathize  with  the  work  of  foreign  mis¬ 
sions,  and  properly  to  contribute  men  and  means  wherewith 
to  carry  it  forward,  by  being  made  intelligently  familiar  with 
the  subject,  and  by  being  satisfied  of  the  wisdom  of  the  policy 
pursued  by  those  to  whom  it  is  more  immediately  committed. 
The  churches  must  feel  that  these  missions  are  their  missions, 
if  we  would  have  them  give  to  the  cause  the  attention  and 
support  it  merits.  Therefore  it  is,  that  as  friends  of  the  noble 
cause  of  missions  to  the  heathen,  wTe  rejoice  that  the  whole 
subject  is  to  be  so  prominently  brought  before  the  constituency 
of  the  American  Board.  We  trust  that  the  promotion  of  the 
cause  of  Christ,  and  no  lower  aim,  will  be  in  the  eye  of  the 
Board  at  its  special  meeting.  We  have  no  desire  to  prejudge 
the  matter,  nor  to  censure  the  Committee  or  its  excellent 
officers,  but  we  sincerely  desire  that  an  intelligent  review  of 
this  subject  may  be  had,  both  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  the 
cause  of  foreign  missions,  and  to  those  devoted  to  its  advance¬ 
ment  at  home  and  abroad. 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


27 


The  changes  brought  about  by  the  visit  of  the  Deputation 
have  not  been  confined  to  the  Ceylon  mission,  as  has  been  sup¬ 
posed  by  many;  changes  analogous  in  character  have  been 
found  desirable  in  missions  on  both  sides  of  India.  In  the 
Mahratta  missions  of  the  Bombay  presidency,  and  in  the  Tamil 
mission  of  the  district  ot  Madura,  unless  we  are  misinformed, 
an  essential  reduction  has  been  determined  upon  in  the  educa¬ 
tional  department  of  the  missionary  work.  Instruction  in  Eng¬ 
lish  is  to  cease,  the  number  of  the  schools  to  be  diminished, 
and  the  reception  of  pupils  in  the  remaining  schools  to  be  con¬ 
fined  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  children  of  real  or  nominal 
Christians.  The  school  is  to  follow,  not  precede,  evangelization. 
The  printing  of  English  by  mission  presses  is  to  be  discontinu¬ 
ed,  and  the  management  of  these  presses  to  be  given  to  natives. 
The  churches  are  to  be  committed  to  the  care  of  native  pastors 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  the  missionary  to  become  an  Evan¬ 
gelist  with  an  episcopal  charge  of  the  Churches.  In  the  pre¬ 
paration  of  young  men  for  the  ministry,  if  any  are  instructed  in 
the  English  language,  it  is  to  be  as  an  exceptional  rather  than 
a  normal  feature  of  the  work. 

Since  the  educational  system  has  been  most  steadily,  exten¬ 
sively,  and  we  may  add  successfully,  used  in  the  Jaffna  Mission, 
the  greatest  amount  of  change  was  needed  there  to  bring  the 
Mission  to  the  shape  deemed  most  desirable  by  the  Deputation. 
We  learn  from  the  Missionary  Herald  for  September  last,  that 
the  conference  of  the  Mission  with  the  Deputation  resulted  in 
a  complete  conversion  of  the  Jaffna  brethren  to  the  views  of 
the  Deputation,  a  result  equally  surprising  to  those  engagedin 
the  conference  and  to  the  more  distant  friends  of  the  Mission 
at  home.  A  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of  this  Mission  is 
essential  to  an  understanding  either  of  the  necessity  or  nature 
of  the  changes  thus  effected. 

The  Jaffna  Mission  was  commenced  in  March,  1816,  by 
Messrs.  Warren,  Richards,  Poor  and  Meigs,  of  whom  the  last 
named  only  survives.  The  Mission  has  of  late  years  had  from 
seven  to  nine  ordained  missionaries,  a  physican  and  printer. 
The  field  of  labor  assigned  to  these  brethren  and  their  success 


28  The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

sors, — the  northern  Province  of  Ceylon, — is  in  several  respects 
a  peculiar  one,  differing  in  important  particulars  from  mission 
fields  upon  the  continent  of  India.  These  peculiarities  have 
had  an  influence  in  modifying  the  means  used  in  the  work  of 
evangelization.  From  the  outset  the  Mission  has  made  use  of 
preaching,  the  press  and  education,  as  mutual  aids  in  prose¬ 
cuting  its  enterprise.  Although  education  in  schools  of  dif¬ 
ferent  grades  has  been  a  more  prominent  agency  in  this  than 
in  some  other  of  our  Indian  Missions,  it  is  the  assertion  of  our 
brethren  that  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  has  ever  been  their 
chief  instrumentality.  Thus,  in  their  report  published  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1846,  they  say,  under  the  head  of  “  Preach¬ 
ing” — “By  this  is  to  be  understood  the  oral  declaration  of  the 
Gospel  to  one  or  more  auditors,  but  not  necessarily  in  the  ordi¬ 
nary  form  of  sermonizing.  The  missionaries  regard  their 
churches,  school  bungalows,  rest  houses  and  dwelling  houses, 
the  wayside  and  bazars,  as  proper  places  in  which  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  and  accordingly  they  have  from  the  beginning  ex¬ 
ercised  their  ministry  in  all  these  places  as  they  had  opportu¬ 
nity.”  Again,  in  the  report  of  1852,  they  say — “The  preach¬ 
ing  of  the  Gospel  in  the  Churches  and  in  the  villages,  by  the 
wayside  and  from  house  to  house,  has  always  been  considered 
our  great  instrumentality  for  the  spread  of  the  truth,  and  edu¬ 
cational  and  other  means  only  as  auxiliary  to  this.” 

The  accounts  of  extended  tours  found  in  the  reports  of  other 
missions  cannot  be  looked  for  here  from  the  insular  nature  of 
the  field.  The  compactness  of  its  population,  whilst  preventing 
the  necessity  for  such  tours,  taken  in  connection  with  the  state 
of  preparation  for  receiving  the  truth,  produced  by  the  preach¬ 
ing  and  teaching  of  past  years,  says  this  report,  “  creates  a  de¬ 
mand  for  daily  excursions  in  the  villages,  the  results  of  which 
are  not  to  be  estimated  by  the  distance  traveled.  Thus,  at 
Manepy,  there  are  ten  thousand  inhabitants  within  the  limits 
of  the  station,  and  yet  so  compact,  that  the  most  distant  are 
within  an  half  hour’s  ride  from  the  station.  Every  house  :s 
open  to  the  missionaries,  and  every  family  an  audience.”  Dr. 
Poor,  then  in  charge  of  that  station,  visited,  during  the  last  six 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question • 


29 


months  preceding  the  report,  two  hundred  houses,  nearly  in 
the  order  of  their  location.  Those  familiar  with  the  difficulty 
of  getting  access  to  houses  of  the  Hindus  elsewhere,  wall  re¬ 
cognize  in  this  fact  a  remarkable  proof  of  progress.  Mr. 
Meigs,  the  surviving  founder  of  the  mission,  says — “During 
good  weather  we  hold  meetings,  usually  in  the  evenings,  at  our 
school  bungalows,  and  sometimes  at  the  houses  of  respectable 
natives  in  the  villages.”  Tours  upon  the  neighboring  islands 
also  are  made  both  by  the  missionaries  and  native  preachers. 

The  Christian  education  of  the  rising  generation,  though  re¬ 
garded  only  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  great  work  of  preaching 
the  Gospel,  has  ever  been  a  prominent  feature  in  the  operation 
of  the  Jaffna  mission.  The  Schools  are  of  three  grades.  In 
the  lowest,  or  common  schools,  Tamil  only  is  taught;  the 
branches  studied  being  simple  and  elementary,  with  a  large 
proportion  of  religious  instruction  from  the  Scriptures  and 
Catechisms.  These  are  taught  entirely  by  natives,  who  bring 
their  pupils  for  examination  and  instruction  weekly  to  the 
missionary,  and  on  the  Sabbath  to  the  station  church.  Next 
above  these  schools,  are  those  in  which  English,  as  well  as 
Tamil,  is  taught,  of  which  there  is  one  at  each  station. 
These  are  designed  to  be  feeders  to  the  Seminary.  The 
best  boys  from  the  village  school  enter  the  English  school,  and 
of  these  a  select  number  are  admitted  to  the  Seminary.  The 
expense  of  these  schools  is  mostly  borne  by  an  appropriation 
of  £200  per  annum  from  the  British  Government,  and  the  in¬ 
struction  is  given  almost  entirely  by  native  teachers.  It  is 
the  aim  of  these  schools  to  confer  a  thorough  biblical  educa¬ 
tion,  as  well  as  one  that  will  be  useful  to  the  pupil  in  any 
position  in  life,  should  he  fail  to  enter  the  Seminary.  The 
female  Boarding  School  at  Oodooville,  and  the  male  Seminary 
at  Batticotta,  complete  the  educational  system  of  the  mission. 
The  Boarding  school  was  commenced  in  1824.  At  that  time 
there  could  hardly  be  found  a  native  female  in  the  Jaffna  dis¬ 
trict  who  knew  the  Tamil  alphabet.  So  great  was  the 
prejudice  against  female  education,  that  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty,  and  with  the  promise  of  a  marriage  dowry, 


30 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

that  a  few  little  girls  could  be  induced  to  encounter  the  odium 
of  learning  to  read,  and  their  parents  be  persuaded  to  allow 
them  to  be  under  instruction.  Now,  so  great  is  the  pressure 
of  candidates  for  admittance  to  the  Oodooville  school,  that  in 
place  of  receiving  a  dower  the  pupils  pay  a  portion  of  the 
expenses,  and  many  who  apply  must  be  rejected  to  keep  the 
school  within  the  prescribed  limits.  From  this  school  are 
furnished  wives  of  native  preachers,  catechists,  teachers, 
and  educated  young  men.  It  is  a  fact  that  speaks  most  loudly 
in  favor  of  this  institution,  that  of  two  hundred  and  four  fe¬ 
males  who  have  gone  out  from  it,  one  hundred  and  thirty-six 
were  church  members  when  they  left  the  school,  and,  up  to 
1852,  thirteen  others  had  united  with  the  church,  giving  as 
the  result  of  this  training  mainly  of  heathen  girls,  about  three- 
fourths  of  the  whole  number  as  making  a  profession  of  faith. 
Of  these  but  ten  have  gone  back  to  heathenism,  though  almost 
all  live  among  heathen  friends,  exposed  to  constant  ridicule 
and  annoyance. 

The  Batticotta  Seminary  was  commenced  in  1823,  as  a 
central  high  school  for  lads  who,  at  the  several  stations,  were 
prepared  for  a  course  of  instruction  which  wrould  call  for 
more  of  the  missionaries’  time  than  could  be  afforded  from 
their  other  duties.  That  they  might  not  lose  these  youth,  nor 
uneconomically  withdraw  labor  from  other  parts  of  the  work, 
forty-eight  of  the  most  promising  pupils  were  consolidated 
into  one  seminary,  under  the  care  of  the  late  Dr.  Poor. 
u  The  main  design  of  the  Seminary,”  say  the  mission,  “  has 
been  to  bring  forward  competent  native  agents  for  the  mis¬ 
sionary  work.  The  pupils  are  required  to  attend  public 
worship  on  the  Sabbath,  and  such  other  religious  services  as 
may  be  appointed  for  their  benefit.  Attendance  on  idolatrous 
ceremonies  is  a  disciplinable  offence.  The  great  object  of 
the  institution  being  the  propagation  of  Christianity,  the 
Bible  has  always  been  a  prominent  object  of  study,  and  is 
regarded  as  the  text-book  on  morals  and  religion.  Science  is 
taught,  principally,  as  an  auxiliary  to  this  object.”  The 
course  embraces  eight  years,  the  studies  being  quite  extended 


31 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

and  embracing  instruction  both  in  English  and  Tamil.  The 
former  is  considered  as  an  eminently  desirable  feature  in  the 
culture  of  Hindu  youth, — as  opening  a  store-house  of  thought, 
of  mental,  moral,  civil  and  religious  material,  without  a  par- 
as  only  effectual  means  of  bringing  these  minds  in¬ 
to  contact  and  practical  acquaintance  with  the  energy,  the 
enterprise  and  the  benevolence  of  Protestant  Christendom — 
as  an  invaluable  stimulant,  awakening  the  mind  to  the  pursuit 
of  every  branch  of  learning,  and  as  a  means  of  lifting  the 
mind  out  of  the  pits  of  heathen  associations,  especially  in 
reading  the  (-Cmglish)  Bible.  As  in  the  Oodooville  school,  so 
in  the  seminary,  a  most  remarkable  index  is  furnished  of  the 
change  that  has  taken  place  in  the  popular  mind  of  the 
Province.  Whereas,  at  first,  pupils  could  be  obtained  only 
with  the  greatest  difficulty,  at  an  examination  in  1852,  for  the 
admission  of  thirty  lads,  who  were  to  pay  the  whole  or  a  part 
of  their  expenses  for  board,  there  were  eighty  candidates  for 
the  privilege  of  entering  this  Christian  school.  The  instruc¬ 
tion  given  in  this  Seminary  has  resulted  in  the  education, 
full  or  partial,  of  670  pupils.  Excluding  100  connected  with 
the  Seminary  when  it  was  broken  up,  and  75  dismissed  early 
in  their  course  for  misconduct  or  deficient  scholarship,  we  have 
495,  of  whom  340  are  or  have  been  church  members.  Of 
the  366  young  men  who  remained  in  the  Seminary  for  five 
years  or  more,  256  were  admitted  to  the  church.  Of  the 
whole  number  270  have  been  in  mission  service  at  some  time, 
of  whom  50  have  died,  and  in  1854  as  many  as  134  of  the 
pupils  of  this  institution  were  engaged  in  labors  connected 
with  missionary  effort. 

Though  this,  bare  statement  is  far  from  showing  what  has 
been  actually  effected  by  the  Seminary,  it  is  a  most  significant 
index  to  the  spirit  in  which  its  affairs  have  been  conducted. 
The  Oodooville  School  for  girls,1 *  and  the  Batticotta  Seminary 

*  This  is  not  strictly  correct,  since  the  Missionary  in  charge  of  the  Oodooville 
station,  the  hev.  Mr.  Spaulding,  whilst  exercising  a  religious  supervision  of  the 
school,  in  no  degree  tails  short  of  any  of  his  brethren  in  preaching,  translating 
and  pastoral  labors.  The  temporal  cares  of  the  school  and  even  the  keeping  of 
accounts  devolve  upon  Mrs.  Spaulding  and  her  coadjutor.  Miss  Agnew. 


32 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

for  young  men,  have  each  demanded  the  services  of  a  mis¬ 
sionary  family.  For  a  while  the  latter  was  thought  worthy 
of  more  ministerial  labor,  but  generally  it  has  had  but  one  or¬ 
dained  missionary.  The  other  ordained  members  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  have  had  the  charge  each  of  a  station  witli  its  church, 
out-door  preaching,  visitation,  and  the  superintendence  of 
schools  for  the  children  of  Christians  and  heathen.  With  re¬ 
gard  to  schools,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  of  lete  yeais 
very  little  of  the  secular  instruction  in  the  seminaries  has  been 
given  by  the  missionaries.  Native  teachers  are  now  qualified 
for  these  departments,  and  the  missionary  can  lay  out  his 
strength  in  the  inculcation  of  moral  and  religious  studies, 
which  are  taught  in  these  institutions  to  a  far  greater  extent 
than  in  any  American  college,  we  might  perhaps  say  than  in 
any  American  school.  In  the  station,  or  day  schools,  the 
missionary  does  not  think  of  teaching.  Eeiigious  instruction 
and  examination  are  the  only  errands  that  take  him  to  the 
school,  or  bring  the  school  to  him.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
that  more  persons  have  embraced  Cnristianity  from  the  two 
Seminaries  than  as  the  result  of  all  the  other  labors  of  the 
Mission.  In  fact,  not  one-third  of  the  converts  in  this  Mis¬ 
sion  are  the  fruits  of  preaching  alone*  Undoubtedly  it  is  to 
the  early  instruction  received  in  Christianity  by  those  enter¬ 
ing  the  Seminaries,  that  this  must  be  attributed.  Having 
been  brought  in  the  village  and  higher  schools  to  a  state  re¬ 
sembling  somewhat  that  of  youth  in  a  Christian  community , 
the  preaching  of  the  word,  when  rejected  by  adult  lieaiers, 
has  proved,  under  God,  effectual  with  them. 

The  changes  made  by  the  joint  action  of  the  Deputation 
and  the  Mission  seem  to  have  been  of  a  sweeping  nature  : 

(1.)  The  ecclesiastical  body,  called  the  “Jaffna  Consocia¬ 
tion  or  Presbytery,”  by  which  the  purely  ecclesiastical  mat¬ 
ters  of  the  Mission  had  been  managed,  is  dissolved,  and  the 

*  Of  825  admitted  to  the  Jaffna  churches  up  to  the  year  1854,  352  were  from 
the  Batticotta  Seminary,  and  185  from  Oodooville.  Of  the  remaining  ~8 
church  members,  80  had  been  teachers,  and  at  least  GO  pupils  in  the  \illage  or 
station  schools. 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question.  33 

missionaries  organized  into  a  separate  churcli.  The  ecclesi¬ 
astical  functions  necessary  to  the  work,  will  be  assumed  by 
the  Mission  as  such.  The  churches  are  as  rapidly  as  possible 
to  be  put  under  the  pastoral  care  of  natives,  the  missionaries 
devoting  their  time  to  preaching  to  unconverted  adults,  who 
are  to  be  organized  into  churches  as  fast  as  six  or  more 
Christians  shall  be  found  in  one  place,  and  then  given  to  the 
charge  of  native  preachers  and  catechists. 

(2.)  All  education  is  to  be  hereafter  in  the  vernacular  of 
the  district,  (Tamil,)  and  confined  mainly  to  the  children  of 
Christians.  Heretofore  the  village  schools  have  been  taught 
by  natives,  and,  except  in  special  cases,  in  the  vernacular. 
At  first,  from  lack  of  Christians,  heathen  men  were  thus  em¬ 
ployed  by  the  Mission  to  gain  a  foot-hold  in  the  villages,  and 
to  reach  the  young  by  schools  as  well  as  adults  by  preaching. 
By  degrees  Christian  teachers  had  replaced  the  former  class 
in  most  places,  and  schools  were  established  into  which  the 
children  of  Christians  and  heathen  were  both  admitted  freely. 
Now  these  schools  are  to  be  mainly  confined  to  villages  in 
which  there  are  converts,  nominal  or  real,  and  to  be  tor  the 
instruction  of  their  children.  In  the  second  grade  of  schools, 
one  at  each  station,  of  late  years  supported  by  a  grant  of 
£200  annually  from  the  British  Government,  English  is  no 
longer  to  be  taught,  and  the  Government  grant  of  course  re¬ 
linquished.  An  effort  is  to  be  made  to  raise  the  standard  ot 
vernacular  scholarship  in  these  schools.  The  Oodooville 
Female  Boarding  School,  now  numbering  seventy  pupils,  is 
to  be  reduced  by  the  graduation  of  the  present  classes  to 
thirty  or  thirty-five,  the  course  shortened,  English  discon¬ 
tinued,  and  the  children  of  Christians  only  admitted.  In  the 
Batticotta  Seminarv,  it  was  decided  to  reduce  the  number  of 
pupils  from  one  hundred  to  twenty-five  or  thirty,  and  to 
shorten  the  term  of  study  ;  to  give  instruction  only  in  Tamil, 
and  that  to  Christians  or  the  children  of  Christians  only,  with 
a  view  to  their  preparation  for  mission  service.  The  Mission 
not  being  able  at  present  to  organize  the  Seminary  on  this 
basis, — as  was  suggested  in  the  September  Missionary  Herald, 

— have  decided  to  disband  it  altogether. 

3 


34 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


(3.)  As  printing  in  English  is  to  be  discontinued,  the  mis¬ 
sion  press  has  been  transferred  to  natives.  The  missionary 
printer  is  to  be  ordained  and  transferred  to  the  Madura  mis¬ 
sion. 

The  wisdom  of  these  measures  it  is  not  our  present  purpose 
to  discuss.  The  return  of  the  Deputation  and  the  publication 
of  their  Report  will  afford  the  proper  occasion  for  hearing 
what  may  be  said  on  either  hand.  We  have  no  doubt  that  a 
just  measure  of  attention  will  be  bestowed  upon  the  subject, 
and  both  the  experience  of  the  past,  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
present,  be  fairly  weighed  by  the  Board.  We  would  depre¬ 
cate  a  censorious  pre-judgment  of  the  acts  of  the  Deputation, 
or  a  captious  criticism  of  the  course  of  the  Prudential  Com¬ 
mittee.  A  large  confidence  must  necessarily  be  reposed  in 
the  executive  officers  of  our  benevolent  societies,  if  we  would 
have  them  efficient.  This  confidence  is  due  to  the  Committee 
who  have  so  ably  managed  the  affairs  of  the  American 
Board,  and  to  the  distinguished  Christian  gentleman  who  has 
for  so  many  years  devoted  his  whole  powers  to  its  cause,  as 
the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Correspondence.  A  thorough  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  subject  we  desire  to  see  ;  but  not  in  a  spirit  of 
needless  fault  finding,  or  intermeddling  with  the  measures  of 
those  who  have  been  entrusted  by  the  Churches  with  a  re¬ 
sponsibility  so  great — a  responsibility  which  has  been  well 
and  nobly  met. 

It  may,  in  passing,  be  remarked,  that  these  changes  were 
not  called  for  by  the  convictions  of  the  older  missionaries. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  we  think,  that  some  of  them  concurred 
in  the  alterations  proposed  from  an  unwillingness  to  appear 
contumacious,  and  from  a  willingness  to  yield  their  own  prefer¬ 
ences,  rather  than  from  a  conviction  of  the  wisdom  of  the  new 
measures  proposed  and  inaugurated.  It  will  create  no  aston¬ 
ishment  if  we  learn  that  aged  hearts  are  sore,  and  venerable 
eyes  suffused  with  tears  at  the  prospect  of  the  reduction  or 
abandonment  of  the  institutions  over  which  they  have  wept, 
and  prayed  and  yearned.  Nor  will  such  yearnings  of  heart  be 
deemed  inconsistent  with  a  graceful  acquiescence  in  the  will 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


35 


of  the  Deputation,  and  of  the  majority  of  the  Mission.  Nor 
were  the  changes  caused  by  an  increase  of  educational  labors 
on  the  part  of  the  Jaffna  mission.  For  ten  years  past  the 
process  has  been  one  of  reduction.  The  maximum  was  in 
1842,  not  in  1855.  Batticotta  Seminary  had  been  reduced 
from  180  to  100  pupils,  and  its  expenses  lessened  two  thirds; 
Oodooville  Boarding  School  from  100  girls  to  75;  the  village 
schools  from  6000  to  less  than  4000  children.  It  may  also  be 
remarked,  that  the  system  of  educational  effort  so  long  pursued 
in  the  Province  of  Ceylon,  but  now  repudiated  by  some  asun- 
scriptural  and  unwise,  has  indisputably  prepared  the  way  for 
the  more  hopeful  prosecution  of  the  present  plan.  It  is  not  as 
in  Arcot,  an  experiment  on  its  own  foundation,  but  upon  the 
labors  of  the  fathers  of  the  Mission,  passed  or  passing  away. 
Many  of  the  hearers  of  the  Word  now  have  their  minds  in¬ 
formed  and  their  consciences  enlightened,  by  contact  with 
scripture  truth  in  mission  schools.  These  will  be  found  by 
the  evangelist  to  be  his  most  intelligent  auditors,  and  we  may 
hope  that  the  teachings  of  the  past  will  not  be  wholly  thrown 
away.  The  prayers  and  tears  that  have  consecrated  the  soil 
of  Jaffna;  the  precious  dust  that  is  there  awaiting  the  archan¬ 
gel’s  trump;  the  toils  and  trials  there  endured,  will  not,  cannot 
be  forgotten  of  God.  .  Our  wisdom  and  our  folly  are  the  toss¬ 
ings  of  the  wind-driven  wave — His  purposes,  and  His  mercy 
are  as  the  ocean  depths  unchangeable.  The  day  will  yet  dawn, 
when,  in  spile  of  our  folly,  or  irrespective  of  our  wisdom,  He 
shall  reign  over  the  inhabitants  of  now  besotted  India. 

We  conclude  with  a  few  of  the  many  thoughts  that  crowd 
upon  us  and  claim  an  utterance,  choosing  rather  to  seem  to 
overlook  many  important  points  than  to  exhaust  the  patience 
of  our  readers  by  undue  length. 

(1.)  Tet  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  subject  be  taken.  It  is 
no  petty  effort  of  which  we  treat,  no  small  undertaking  that 
we  discuss.  Vast  as  is  the  importance,  unutterable  as  is  the 
preciousness  of  the  salvation  of  a  single  soul,  and  still  more 
of  many  souls,  even  this  is  an  object  far  outweighed  in  magni¬ 
tude,  by  the  issue  of  our  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  a  world 


36 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 


lying  in  wickedness.  Our  aim  is  not  to  run  over  so  many 
provinces,  to  address  so  many  assemblies,  to  scatter  so  many 
Scriptures  and  tracts,  to  educate  so  many  children,  nor  even 
to  save  so  many  souls,  in  themselves  considered.  It  is  deeper, 
broader,  more  far-reaching  than  this — it  is  to  plant  the  Church 
of  Christ  in  heathen  lands .  To  plant  it,  not  as  an  exotic,  to 
be  fostered  by  the  appliances  of  foreign  skill  and  culture,  but 
to  plant  it  so  that  it  shall  live  and  propagate  itself,  and  band 
down  to  coming  generations  the  ordinances  of  the  house  of 
God.  Until  we  reach  this  point  we  have  not  done  our  work. 
To  save  souls  is  a  high  aim,  but  beyond  this  to  plant  a  self- 
propagative  church  is  that  which  we  proposed  to  ourselves  in 
our  Foreign  Missions. 

(2.)  Let  thorough  worh  he  made  as  far  as  we  go.  It  is  no 
uncommon  thing  that  efforts  to  save  the  perishing  from  tempo¬ 
ral  death  are  defeated  by  the  attempt  to  rescue  too  many  at 
once.  To  save  all  is  the  ultimate  aim;  but  to  do  that  we  must 
take  from  the  wreck,  at  one  time,  no  more  than  our  life-boat 
can  sustain.  It  seems  hard-hearted  to  refuse  to  admit  any 
poor  wretch  trembling  in  the  jaws  of  death,  but  it  is  the  part 
of  true  mercy  only  to  undertake  what  we  can  carry  through 
successfully.  Let  us  therefore  take  our  position,  undertake  a 
given  field,  or  a  given  number  of  fields,  and  in  the  name  of 
our  God  determine  to  do  our  duty  to  those  fields.  Let  not  the 
invitingness  of  another  and  another  call,  lead  us  so  to  encumb¬ 
er  ourselves  with  new  enterprises,  that  old  ones  shall  not  be 
properly  prosecuted.  A  concentrated  effort  is  essential,  when 
the  disposable  forces  are  so  small. 

(3.)  Let  our  missionaries  he  amply  furnished  with  instru¬ 
ments  for  the  prosecution  of  their  enterprise.  The  missionary 
is  a  costly  article.  lie  is  obtained  with  difficulty,  fitted  for 
his  work  by  a  long  course  of  training,  sent  out  at  a  large  ex¬ 
pense,  maintained  in  a  hostile  climate,  with  a  constant  struggle 
against  debility  and  disease,  and  liable  to  be  removed  by  ill¬ 
ness,  or  suddenly  cut  off  by  death.  Hence  it  is  wisdom  to 
give  him  all  the  tools  he  needs.  It  is  economy.  This  is  true 
of  the  home  pastor,  but  pre-eminently  true  of  the  foreign  mis- 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question, 


37 


sionary,  who  labors  without  the  aid  of  intelligent  church  offi¬ 
cers,  church  members,  and  Sabbath-school  teachers,  who  at 
home  surround  and  sustain  the  minister  of  the  Gospel. 

The  foreign  missionary  must  do  every  thing  without  these 
aids.  Hence  he  needs  all  the  appliances  that  can  be  afforded 
him  for  the  performance  of  his  task.  To  send  out  men  and 
then  say  we  cannot  furnish  them  with  weapons,  is  to  enact 
the  folly  of  sending  forth  to  reduce  an  empire,  an  army  with¬ 
out  artillery,  or  a  general  without  troops.  To  deprive  the 
laborer  of  his  tools,  the  soldier  of  his  weapons,  is  the  poorest 
of  all  modes  of  retrenchment. 

(4.)  Having  chosen  our  field  and  obtained  our  men,  let  us 
use  the  wisest  means.  The  Gospel  is  our  weapon.  To  bring 
it  in  all  respects  most  effectually  to  bear  upon  men,  is  our 
object.  The  public  oral  proclamation  of  the  truth  is  undoubt¬ 
edly  the  first  great  means  for  the  conversion  of  men.  Its 
simplicity,  its  unworldliness,  its  inefficiency,  without  the  bless¬ 
ing  of  God,  its  apostolicity,  its  direct  obedience  to  the  com¬ 
mand  of  Christ,  all  combine  to  render  it  a  God-honoring  means, 
and  a  glorious  privilege  of  the  man  of  God  in  every  land. 
God  forbid  that  we  or  our  missionaries  should  decry  or  dispar¬ 
age  it.  We  do  not  believe  that  they  do  disparage  it.  We 
have  yet  to  learn  of  a  mission  of  the  American  Board,  in  which 
the  preaching  of  Christ  publicly  and  privately,  in  the  village 
and  the  city,  in  the  street  and  from  house  to  house,  is  not  re¬ 
garded  as  the  chief  means  for  the  conversion  of  rebellious  men 
to  God.  Deeply  should  we  regret  any  departure  from  this 
cardinal  truth.  But  let  us  not  be  so  carried  away  with  a  passion 
for  a  supposed  apostolic  method,  as  to  reject  the  means  for 
reaching  the  consciences  of  men  put  into  our  hands  by  the 
Providence  of  God.  True  apostolicity  is  to  do  all  that  we 
can,  and  look  to  God  for  his  blessing. 

The  missionary,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  cannot  do  what 
we  can.  He  has  no  prescriptive  rights  like  those  with  which 
the  American  pastor  is  invested.  He  has  not  the  avenues  for 
usefulness  and  ministerial  effort  all  opened  before  him.  He 
is  a  stranger,  a  foreigner,  in  spiritual  things  a  foe  to  the  poo- 


38 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question.  • 

pie  among  whom  he  dwells.  lie  must  watch  the  indications 
of  Providence.  He  must  enter  every  open  door.  He  must 
avail  himself  of  every  means  of  access  to  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  people.  Hence,  let  him,  in  the  exercise  of  a 
wise  discretion,  in  connection  with  the  public  preaching  of  the 
word,  use  all  means  for  bringing  the  truth  to  bear  upon  those 
among  whom  he  has  chosen  to  pitch  his  tent.  Let  him  make 
use  of  the  press,  of  schools,  of  medicine,  of  any  thing  lawful, 
for  the  advancement  of  his  cause. 

Schools  are  a  lawful  and  may  he  an  important  branch  of 
the  machinery  of  missions ,  both  as  one  of  the  appliances  of 
a  well  balanced  system  of  evangelistic  operations,  and  as  a 
means  of  training  native  teachers,  preachers,  and  pastors.  A 
system  of  missions  which  ignores  the  younger  half  of  the 
human  race,  appears  to  us  to  involve  an  error  of  no  slight 
magnitude.  To  confine  our  efforts  to  adults,  is  to  turn  from 
that  half  of  the  population  of  any  land  which  is  most  impres¬ 
sible,  least  under  the  power  of  sin  and  idolatry,  and  which  is 
in  a  few  short  years  to  be  the  acting,  ruling  generation.  To 
say  that  young  converts  are  not  the  ones  to  withstand  the 
outbursts  of  persecuting  rage,  or  that  children  and  youth  are 
not  in  fact  the  persons  converted  in  missions,  seems  not  to  us 
to  correspond  with  the  voice  of  history.  If  the  young  are 
not  converted,  it  is  because  we  do  not  seek;  their  conveision 
aright,  and  with  faith  in  the  power  of  God.  Who  does  not 
know,  that  when  efforts  are  put  forth  for  their  benefit,  it  is 
from  the  ranks  of  the  young  that  we  reap  our  richest  har¬ 
vests  ! 

To  say  that  youth,  instructed  in  the  Scriptures,  are  not 
more  hopeful  subjects  for  the  preacher  than  those  utterly 
ignorant  of  the  principles  and  facts  of  Christianity,  is  to  con¬ 
tradict  experience  and  common  sense.  A  et  a  distinguished 
advocate  of  another  system  of  missions,  already  quoted,* 
says,  “If  we  instruct  them,  they  remain  estranged  from  God, 
just  as  they  were  before.  We  have,  therefore,  approached 


*  Rev.  Dr.  Way  land. 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question , 


39 


no  nearer  to  the  end  which  we  have  in  view  than  when  we 
commenced.”  And  is  it  so  1  Is  instruction  thrown  away, 
that  does  not  result  in  immediate  conversion  I  Is  the  harden¬ 
ed  idolator  of  threescore  years  as  near  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  as  the  youth  whose  conscience  has  been  awakened, 
and  whose  mind  has  been  enlightened  by  years  of  contact 
with  the  Christian  Scriptures  1  And  shall  our  mouths  be 
closed  because  we  are  told  in  reply,  “  Yes,  for,  to  infinite 
power,  all  things  are  equally  easy  !”  Who  pretends  that  God 
cannot  abrogate  his  own  laws,  reverse  the  plan  in  which  he 
has  regulated  the  affairs  of  this  world  for  six  thousand  years, 
and  ordain  that  the  present  relations  of  cause  and  effect  shall 
cease  I  Who  denies  the  power  of  God  to  do  this  if  he  will  1 
But,  because  God  is  an  Almighty  Sovereign,  shall  we  neglect 
the  teachings  of  reason  and  experience  as  to  his  modes  of 
acting  1  To  do  so  were  to  abandon  His  guidance,  and  to  open 
the  door  for  every  extravagance  of  a  wild  fanaticism.  How 
is  it  in  this  land!  Do  we  not  recognize  the  vantage  ground 
gained,  when  we  can  reach  and  affect  the  young  1  Do  we 
not  find  the  Sabbath  school,  and  especially  the  mission  Sab¬ 
bath  school,  an  agency  for  invading  the  ranks  of  the  ungodly 
in  their  most  vulnerable  parti  Our  schools  and  colleges,  our 
female  seminaries  and  institutions,  do  they  not  present  most 
hopeful  audiences  to  the  preacher  of  the  truth?  To  argue 
the  point  would  seem  superfluous.  Let  any  man  visit  a  well- 
trained  Sunday  school,  with  three  hundred  children,  gathered 
largely  from  the  homes  of  the  irreligious,  in  any  of  our  cities, 
and  he  will  feel  it  impossible  to  deny  the  wisdom  of  the  effort. 
And  then  let  him  go  with  us  to  the  Bhowanipoor  schools  of 
the  London  Mission  in  Calcutta,  and  look  upon  six  hundred 
boys  and  youth  from  the  homes  of  Hindu  idolatry,  engaged 
in  Christian  study,  orderly,  attentive,  with  intelligence  and 
joy  in  the  consciousness  of  mental  enlargement  beaming  in 
every  face,  and  his  heart  will  have  some  strange  idiosyncrasy 
of  structure,  if  it  does  not  beat  with  glad  emotion  and  swell 
with  gratitude  to  God  for  giving  his  servants  access  to  these 
tender  minds.  Let  him  then  go  to  the  Scotch  Assembly  s 


40 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 

school,  on  Cornwallis  Square,  and  look  on  a  thousand  youth 
thus  engaged  ;  and  then  to  the  iNeemtollah  school  of  the 
Free  Church,  and  see  twelve  hundred  more,  gathered  in  one 
building,  from  the  highest  castes,  the  proudest  tribes,  the 
most  bigoted  families,  to  sit  for  years  under  the  teachings  of 
Duff  and  his  colleagues  ;  and  then  let  him  pray,  if  he  will, 
that  these  assemblages  may  be  broken  up  as  a  useless  waste 
of  effort.  For  ourselves,  we  must  decline  to  cry  “ Amcn^ 
to  such  a  petition. 

Schools  give  the  missionary  access  to  the  young,  who  are 
one-half  the  population  of  the  globe;  they  prepare  for  him 
intelligent  hearers,  they  create  appreciative  readers,  they  give 
access  directly  and  indirectly  to  parents,  they  exercise  the 
young  missionary  in  the  languages,  and  they  bring  souls  to 
Christ.  Hence  we  deem  them  a  proper  part  of  a  wise  and 
comprehensive  system  of  evangelistic  effort.  A  mission  may 
devote  too  large  a  proportion  of  its  strength  to  schools,  but 
that  would  not  justify  us  in  rejecting  their  judicious  use. 

Aside  from  these  general  advantages,  arising  from  a  proper 
use  of  schools  in  our  missionary  operations,  they  subserve  a 
specifie  end  of  the  highest  importance;  we  refer  to  the  raising 
up  of  a  native  ministry,  teachers,  preachers  and  pastors.  To 
preserve  and  hand  down  the  Gospel,  with  its  ordinances  and 
institutions,  is  the  highest  function  of  the  infant  church  raised 
up  by  the  preaching  of  the  foreign  evangelist.  For  this  an 
educated  ministry  is  needful.  It  may  please  God  occasional¬ 
ly  to  introduce  a  man  to  this  work  suddenly ;  and  after  a  life 
spent  in  circumstances  unfavorable  to  the  mental  and  moral 
training  adapted  to  prepare  him  for  it,  He  may  make  him 
abundantly  useful.  As  a  general  thing,  however,  we  are  not 
warranted  in  expecting  such  results.  The  experience  of  the 
Church  abundantly  demonstrates  the  necessity  of  a  thorough 
training  for  those  to  whom  this  responsible  charge  is  to  be 
committed.  If  this  be  true  in  Christian  lands,  much  more  is  it 
true  among  the  heathen.  Whilst  all  in  such  a  land  as  ours 
receive  insensibly  and  inevitably  a  diffused  moral  training,  the 
result  of  past  ages  of  Christian  faith  and  practice  handed 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question.  41 

down  to  the  present, the  heathen  inhales  with  his  first  breath  an 
atmosphere  of  mental  and  moral  debasement,  in  which  he  ever 
after  lives  and  moves.  It  is  thus  rendered  doubly  desirable 
that  those  who  are  to  be  the  pillars  of  the  church  in  heathen  lands, 
should,  at  as  early  an  age  as  possible,  be  brought  under  the 
influence  of  a  Christian  training.  We  cannot  undertake  to 
educate  a  nation,  but  by  a  wise  system  of  educational  efforts 
we  may  hope  to  train  a  considerable  number,  of  whom  a  por¬ 
tion  may  be  selected  for  farther  instruction,  and  some  be  led 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  give  themselves  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  Without  being  able  to  state  as  a  fact,  what  could 
not  be  embraced  in  ordinary  statistics,  it  is  our  impression  that 
almost  all  of  the  fifty  or  more  ordained  natives  of  Hindustan 
are  the  fruits  of  a  long  course  of  scholastic  training. 

Whether  or  not  the  English  language  should  be  taught  in 
mission  schools,  is  a  question  much  debated,  but  one  upon  which 
we  cannot  now  enter.  It  may  be  said,  in  passing,  that,  aside 
from  the  merits  of  the  discussion  on  the  abstract  question, 
there  is  a  state  of  things  now  existing  in  India  which,  so  far 
as  that  country  is  concerned,  must  be  taken  into  the  account. 
Among  the  higher  classes,  and  those  almost  inaccessible  to  the 
missionary,  more  especially  in  the  cities,  there  exists  a  passion 
for  the  acquisition  of  the  English  language.  It  is  the  language 
of  their  rulers,  of  the  courts,  and  of  almost  all  proceedings 
in  which  they  come  in  contact  with  Government.  It  is  the 
language  of  Western  science  and  of  the  road  to  wealth.  Hence 
the  most  bigoted,  even  Brahmins,  will  gladly  send  their  sons 
to  any  school  in  which  this  coveted  accomplishment  may  be 
gained.  If  the  Christian  missionary  opens  a  school  in  wThich 
English  is  taught,  it  will  be  crowded  with  young  Hindus, 
whose  fathers  are  willing  to  run  the  risk  of  their  conversion 
that  they  may  make  the  acquisition  of  this  passport  to  station, 
wealth,  and  influence.  The  missionary  may  avow  his  object, 
make  Christianity  the  first  and  last  thing  in  his  instructions, 
require  attendance  upon  public  worship,  and  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures  every  day,  and  yet  his  rooms  will  be  filled  with  lads 
of  all  castes,  from  the  Brahmin  down  to  the  Pariah.  This  re- 


42 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question. 

markable  fact  cannot  be  overlooked  by  men  upon  the  field. 

It  has  led  to  the  establishment  of  mission  schools  in  Calcutta, 
Madras,  Bombay,  and  other  large  cities,  in  which,  by  the  attrac¬ 
tion  of  English,  thousands  of  Hindu  youth  are  brought  under 
the  direct  influence  of  missionaries.  These  schools  have  been 
most  largely  used  by  the  Scotch  missionaries,  in  accordance 
with  their  chosen  theory  of  missions.  Others,  partly  lrom 
sympathy  with  these  views,  and  partly  from  a  desire  to  enter 
an  open  door  of  usefulness,  have  also  engaged  in  this  enter¬ 
prise.  At  present,  the  representatives  of  all  the  great  English, 
Scotch,  and  Continental  Societies  in  the  large  cities  are  mak¬ 
ing  use  of  these  English  schools  as  a  means  of  reaching  and 
affecting  the  popular  mind.  The  influence  of  these  efforts  is 
most  manifest.  Nothing  has  struck  a  more  deadly  blow  at 
Hinduism  than  the  teaching  thus  imparted.  It  is  not  a  work 
of  unmixed  good  in  its  results,  for  some  cast  off  heathenism 
for  infidelity,  and  others  are  hardened  by  appeals  to  which 
they  will  not  yield.  If,  however,  these  results  be  urged  as 
fatal  objections  to  this  mode  of  effort,  then  may  we  show  the 
inexpediency  of  all  labors  which  prove  “  to  some  a  savor  of 
death  unto  death/ ”  The  truth  is,  English  they  will  have.  If 
the  missionary  will  not  give  it  to  them,  others  will.  If  they 
do  not  get  it  from  us,  they  will  from  the  heathen  schools  es¬ 
tablished  by  Hindus,  and  the  godless  universities  sustained  by 
Government. 

In  conclusion,  we  would  say,  let  us  have ,  if  possible ,  a  sys¬ 
tem  of  well-balanced  missions .  By  this  we  mean  missions  com¬ 
prehending  in  their  scope  the  different  parts  of  a  wise  system 
of  effort  for  the  conversion  of  men,  the  training  of  a  native 
ministry,  and  the  establishment  of  a  self-perpetuating  Church. 
We  cannot  coincide  with  Dr.  Duff  in  his  views,  for  he  seems 
to  confine  the  labors  of  the  foreign  missionary  to  one  poition 
of  his  calling  to  the  neglect  of  others;  nor  can  we  agree  with 
those  who  pass  to  the  opposite  extreme.  The  school  system 
of  Dr.  Duff,  if  chosen  by  a  given  mission  on  the  principle  of 
a  division  of  labor,— they  offering  to  do  that  part  of  the  whole 
worl{) _ rnay  be  very  wrell;  but  if  it  be  claimed  as  a  complete 


The  Foreign  Mission  Question . 


43 


system  of  Foreign  Missions,  then  we  must  feel  that  the  first 
work  of  the  missionary  is  left  undone.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
itinerancy  is  made  the  sum  and  substance  of  our  duty,  we 
think  that  a  similar  mistake  is  made.  We  therefore  advocate 
the  formation  of  well-balanced  and  comprehensive  missions, 
in  which  every  department  of  labor  shall  receive  its  due  . 
proportion  of  attention.  Thus  will  we  combine  in  one  har¬ 
monious  effort,  those  modes  of  labor  which,  when  isolated  and 
magnified  so  as  to  cover  the  whole  ground  of  duty,  seem  an¬ 
tagonistic,  but  when  united,  are  found  to  be  mutually  helpful 
allies.  God  has  not  given  to  all  men  one  gift,  nor  cast  all  men 
in  one  mould.  The  attempt  to  confine  all  to  one  mode  of  labor 
will  always  result  in  discontent  and  often  in  defeat.  As  gifts  are 
diverse,  so  are  the  parts  of  the  great  word  to  be  done.  Let 
us,  then,  seek  to  give  each  man  his  place,  and  each  place  its 
man;  using  the  talent  of  each  to  its  utmost,  and  turning  from 
no  lawful  agency  for  the  accomplishment  of  our  high  end.  In 
so  doing,  we  may  humbly  imitate  the  great  Giver  of  gifts  unto 
men,  who  “gave  some  apostles  ;  and  some  prophets;  and  some 
evangelists;  and  some  pastors  and  teachers;  for  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of 
the  body  of  Christ.” 


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